Age of Consent
by vampiregirl93
Summary: "Adulthood is brutal. Falling in love, getting jobs, paying on your mortgage, having babies. Let's just chill out, have a beer, and have some safe sex later." He stared at the table and shrugged. "Okay." SMs not mine, Rated M for drug use, occasional violence and a little lemony.
1. The One Where Bella and Edward kiss

**Authors Note: Hey guys! I know it's been awhile… years… I know, I know. Stop giving me shit about it already, I'm back bitches!**

**I won't waste your time with my 'I've been so busy' sob stuff, I'll just give you what I've been writing and pray to god you'll at least give it a thumbs up. Or 'okay'… I know, not Facebook. Anyway, I wrote this a while back I just didn't post it. Instead I revised it and gave it a little pizzazz, so I'll update it either Wednesday or Friday nights. **

**Summary: ****"Adulthood is brutal. Falling in love, getting jobs, paying on your mortgage, having babies. Let's just chill out, have a beer, and have some safe sex later." He looked at the table blankly and shrugged. "Okay."** About six young adults as they fight against their maturity, fall in love, and fight to stay close. Time changes everything, but it's not a loss.

**Changes/Replacing Chapter: If you caught me replacing a chapter I promise I did not change it, just corrected mistakes!**

**Song list: **

**It's Time by Imagine Dragons**

**I'm not going to post it all at one time because then I won't know what you guys want to read.**

**The chapters will be around 1k to 2k, with an occasional 'flashback'.**

**I'll be explaining the "who is with who" next chapter, but for now it's non-cannon because not all characters are the same.**

**Read it, enjoy it if you must, and review! :)**

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**Prologue**

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So there I was, being your typical bored-faced teenage girl in the parking lot of the only grocery store open in town. It's two in the morning and I'm having a heat stroke in my car that hasn't had air conditioning since 1996.

My two best friends are drunk beyond any sort of coherency. Alice, the girl who taught me how to be 'woman' (in her definition), is flirting with the Piggly-Wiggly clerk, Roland, while he stands outside smoking a cigarette and she flips her hair over and over. And then there's Edward, talking to me about his new puppy and how much he changed his life.

"You have to see his little face, Bella," he coos as if the puppy is right in front of him. "I haven't told mom yet but… she'll understand."

"You haven't told Esme you have a dog running around your room… in her house?"

"Bella, I can't just tell her I have a puppy," he shook his head. "First I have to train him to be a good dog and stop pooping everywhere, that way she'll have no choice but to let me keep him."

"Sure, sure. How are you going to let him out without Esme finding out?" I asked, trying to control my laughter.

"Easy. I'll walk him out through the basement."

"What if she's doing laundry?"

"I'll check first. I'll bring him down in a laundry basket."

"I can tell you've really thought about this." I nodded, making a stern face.

He glared at me. "You underestimate me."

I held my hands up. "Never."

I watched as Edward lit up a cigarette and passed one to me. "You need to quit."

"You need to quit."

I saw him turn and smile. "I love this song."

He turned up the radio and watched me play with the headlights. He sang along to some Def Leppard classic and I danced to it.

Finally the song ended and I watched out the window.

"I love you."

I turned and smiled at him.

"I love you too."

"Bella I'm not kidding." He shook his head.

"I hope not," I laughed and looked in at Alice again to see that she was still alive. This time she was staring at cans... I couldn't understand what was taking her so long to read.

I guess when your drunk, anything takes you a while to read.

I don't know... I've never tried.

"I love you more than you think…"

I grabbed a magazine from the mirror, trying to focus in on the words.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I laughed, seeing that I was as drunk as a soccer mom on vacation.

"I don't care that it's weird, and I know how insane it sounds considering that you think of me as your brother. We've known each other since we were five. But shit… I fucking love you."

I sighed out a gust of air.

Nothing quite compares to the first "I love you"… or so I've heard. Well I felt something strange, but it felt more physically real than I could describe.

Damn… that came out of nowhere.

"I… I have to pee," I left the car and started towards the grocery store.

"Bella!" I heard him calling after me.

I started walking faster, only to feel a strong grip on my arm yanking me back. I turned around and stared at the damp gravel.

"Please don't run away from me," he said.

"I have to p-"

"No I know you don't have to pee," he let go of my arm finally and I slumped my shoulders. "Bella look at me."

"Edward... I-I don't know. We're drunk, and your sister is flirting with Roland, the weird cashier... and I just... I don't understand what's happening right now."

I looked up and saw his face only inches from mine.

His eyes burned into mine, slowly pulling me into his gaze.

"This is anything but a mistake, Bella." He ran his fingers down my arm where he'd just gripped it. "Stop trying to control everything, like it's a burden, and just let me kiss you."

The most infuriating idea of the moment is that I had no idea what I wanted anymore. I had no idea what I knew, or where I should have gone.

"You've been my world, my whole life. I'm not asking for everything, I just wanted you to know that I love you. And I know that I've said things, and I've done things to piss you off forever. But I want to know, if anything that'll at least have chance."

I didn't know what I was thinking when I finally made my next move.

I threw my arms around his neck and smashed my lips with his. And it seemed like everything but the wind around us disappeared. Kind of like when we were little and playing chess, and all my concentration goes out the window. Only this wasn't chess, and we definitely wouldn't be this intense.

It was like every clichéd movie where the guy gets the girl, only they don't zoom up on the stubble on the guys chin and the snot threatening to drip out of the girls knows.

Yes, that almost happened.

It seemed like it lasted forever, but it was really only ten seconds.

Literally.

_"WHAT… THE… FUCK."_

I turned around and frowned.

Alice finally made it out of the store, all of her groceries now rolling down the parking lot.

_And the Academy Award goes to…_

I smiled a little and looked up to Edward. He reached around me and stilled my body in front of him, placing his hands firmly around the small of my back.

"Bella, I..."

I didn't have to think about it.

"Don't say anything. You'll ruin it... I love you too, Edward."

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**Chapter One**

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Maybe I should explain a little bit more about why I just went with some guy kissing me in the grocery store parking lot at 2 in the morning.

If there was anything in my life I knew I was absolutely sure of, it was that I was completely aware that I had been in love with Edward Cullen since the sixth grade. The fact of the matter is that the idea of us being anything more was absolutely ludicrous.

Yes, ludicrous.

The first time we met I was stuffing cheerios in my face while my mom went all psycho crazy on him about not taking his shoes off when he came through the door. Of course I was three, so my description of that time is a bit of a fabrication.

Whatever the truth was, Edward and I became friends. We sat on my dad's loveseat together watching Teletubbies all the way up until Teen Mom came around. And then I realized my ass was too big to sit on his lap and watch TV, I should sit somewhere else.

So things got awkward. Naturally, we stayed best friends. Only I was all weird and distant until freshman year, when I decided to just act normal and let him kiss my cheek every time he saw me.

And then _Tanya_ came along.

When she started school at Forks, she was like the queen everyone was waiting for. They all bowed at her feet and kissed her ass, three girls following her along like lost puppies.

I knew I hated her when she nudged me in the hall and said I needed to see her trainer for my "underarm flab".

Everyone knows Tanya and her excessively long hair and giant butt. I know I'm being mean, but even her name pisses me off. _Tanya. _

The first day we saw her in study hall Edward turned and looked at her like she was an angel inviting him to heaven. And suddenly all attention was diverted to Tanya.

And she ate it up.

Everyday he ate lunch with _Tanya _and sat in study hall with _Tanya. _I wasn't alone in all my hatred. We all looked at them in disgust.

I couldn't blame him. She really was beautiful... slut.

"Edward," I flung my pen to the back of his head. "Edward!"

He was still staring at her, everyday up until the bell rang.

I knew I looked like a jealous girlfriend. I didn't care.

"Huh?"

This was five minutes later.

I'm not dumb, I knew I was in love with him. I just wasn't going to rush into a relationship and risk losing him as a friend.

Eventually they got together, and it lasted about five minutes. In that five minutes they had sex, said the first 'I love you', and got engaged; which I'm assuming was the reason for their breakup in the first place. Edward apologized for being so stupid, and made it up to us by taking us to Six Flags.

We were that easy.

Tanya moved away, after six months of tormenting my friendship with Edward.

I couldn't hold that against him forever.

So that time in the parking lot, at 2 in the morning, of course I knew I had always been in love with Edward. And that if I was lucky enough to have someone who cared about that much, and that I would do the same thing for him… why waste any time standing around?

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******Again, Changes/Replacing Chapter: If you caught me replacing a chapter I promise I did not change it, just corrected mistakes!**

**Author's Note: So there you have it… what'd you think?**


	2. The One Where They Go to The Beach

**Author's Note: So it's Monday and I have been at work all weekend, but I'll definitely post another soon.**

**In the meantime, give me some feedback. I want to know what you want to see out of stories like these. Yes, the story is already written. But I like to know what ideas you guys have as well. So type something in and click that little review button, please!**

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**The One Where They Go to The Beach…**

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"Jasper," I nudged him. He snored loudly.

"Jazz," I pushed his shoulder. He rolled on his side.

"Huh?" he said, opening his mouth and letting drool drip down his pillow.

"Gross, Jasper," I whined. "We're going to the beach. Do you want to go?"

"Mm…" he sighed, scrunching his face. "Give me ten minutes."

It seemed like as soon as Jasper graduated high school he went to bed and slept. We only saw him for two reasons; going to the bathroom or food.

I could see why Alice stopped taking so much interest in him, he completely let go.

I wasn't going to let him sleep today.

"I'm setting your alarm for ten minutes," I grabbed his phone and programmed an alarm for 20 minutes from now, knowing he wouldn't wake up in ten minutes. "Be ready by noon."

I walked into my bedroom and changed into my bikini and threw on a pair of shorts and a swoop neck tee. I packed a few towels and some sunscreen, not that I'd be needing it.

I walked downstairs to find Charlie playing online poker. I grabbed a Pop-tart and scooted up next to him on the island. I watched him concentrate on the game through his little netbook.

"You going somewhere today?" he asked, drawing his eyes away from the screen.

"We're all going to the beach today," I informed him, shoving a piece of food in my mouth.

"We're all?" he questioned, as if he had no clue who my friends were.

"Edward, Alice, Emmett, Rose… and Jasper," I said, mouth full of crumbled pastry.

"Bring sunscreen…" he said, and continued his game. I looked out the window to see the dark gray clouds rolling in over the house. I swallowed the food.

"Sure Dad," I shook my head.

I heard a wrap at the door and pranced up to through the hallway to open it. I could barely inch the door open before Emmett came crashing in, smashing me behind the door, and burrowed into the kitchen. Alice and Rose followed, leaving Edward behind.

"Hey," he smiled at me, leaning in as if he had a secret.

"Hi," I smiled back.

"Your dad in the kitchen?" he asked, wrapping an arm around my waist.

I nodded, tilting my head up further.

_"Good_," he held my face between his hands and kissed me eagerly. I laughed at his approach, returning it with the same enthusiasm.

I pulled back when I heard a door slam and I walked over to the stairs to see my brother lazily walking down the steps.

"Up before noon," I smiled. "I can honestly say this for the first time in twelve months. Good morning, brother."

He mocked a laugh and put a cigarette between his lips and brushed past me to the front door.

"How's he been doing?" Edward asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. After work I come home and he's asleep. I wake up and he's either in front of the TV or… asleep." I shrug.

"Has he said anything about going to school?"

I thought for a moment. "No."

"Going back to work…?"

"Uh… nope."

He took a deep breath and looked outside. "He needs something…"

"I've tried talking to him, Edward. Every time I bring up school he completely ignores me. It's like talking to a brick wall…"

"Don't explain, Bella… I know he gets this way and you can't talk to him about anything." He bit his lip and concentrated on something out the window.

"I think he'll be okay," I watched Jasper throw his cigarette into dads freshly cut lawn. "He just needs to breathe for a minute. Maybe _next_ year he'll realize what he wants to do."

"He thinks he already knows what he wants to do," he gestured towards the door. "And he's doing it."

I frowned.

It's true that Jasper had little to no ambition in his life. He likes to paint and play guitar, but that's the most I've seen him do of anything.

But I know this isn't what he wants to do... he's just opting for the "easy" life for the moment.

I felt his fingers at my chin, lifting my head up. "I'm sorry I'm being so pessimistic. I just want the best for him, like you do."

I nodded.

"Let's go see that the others don't give Charlie a heart attack."

I followed him into the kitchen to see everyone entertaining Charlie. He'd even paused his online poker to see Emmett pretend to dropkick Rose.

He laughed at Emmett and corrected his dropkick, pointing out the flaws in his action.

"Well of course your right, Charlie," Emmett shook his head sarcastically. "She's my girlfriend, I'm not just going to have a hoedown throw-down right in the middle of your kitchen."

Rose gawked, throwing her fist in the air to punch him in the back of the shoulder.

"Owww!" he cried, hugging himself awkwardly.

"Jeez, Emmett. First rule of the fight; always know who your enemies are. Second, don't ever let a girl, let alone your girlfriend, make you cry like a wimp," Charlie said.

Emmett frowned, his face weakening as if he were going to cry. "I'm sorry."

"You better hope you're talking to me and not Charlie," Rose rolled her eyes.

"Ready guys?" Alice asked, standing up from a barstool.

I nodded. "Jasper's already outside."

"Okay good," she hugged Charlie, walked past me and out the door.

Edward looked at me questioningly and I shrugged.

"Bye dad," I kissed his forehead.

"Bye Bells. Do me a favor will you?" he handed me a granola bar. "Give this to your brother."

I nodded and followed them out the door.

"And no drinking! And if I hear that you guys were drinking and driving so-help-me I'll put all of your asses in jail!"

"Yes, sir!" we all said unison.

When we got outside I grabbed my keys out of my bag and started walking towards my car. Edward followed and told everyone he was riding with me.

"I'll go too," Jasper got in the back. I handed him the granola bar and he sort of threw it to the side.

I got in and started the car. Music started blaring throughout the car and I cringed.

I turned it down and smiled apologetically back at Jasper. "Sorry."

"No big deal, just shit my pants a little."

We laughed and I backed out onto the road and started driving towards the highway.

"Shit…" Edward made a face.

"What?" I asked, looking around to see if he dropped something.

"I forgot to bring a towel."

"How can you forget to bring a towel?" I asked, laughing. He glared. "Oh come on Edward, it's a valid question… we're going to the beach."

"Well I was so busy fighting with my mom this morning about the dog that I forgot to bring everything, my dignity included."

"Aw… your mom found out?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

"How'd it go?"

"Well… I get to keep him."

I smiled. "Aw… see champ. Life's not that bad after all."

"Bella… first of all, don't call me 'champ'. Second, I only get to keep him if she gets to change his name. Which totally defeats the purpose of having a dog named, changing it."

I frowned. "I can't help you there… Esme's a tough one and I'm sure there's no way to work your way out of that one. Unless you chose some eloquent designer name."

"Hm… I'll definitely put that in the back of my mind."

"And as for you not having a towel, I can share mine."

He smiled. "Yeah… life's not so bad after all."

We drove in silence for a minute until I heard a long take of breath from behind me. I looked over to see Jaspers face inches from mine.

"Gah!" I screamed, nearly jumping out of my seat.

"What's going on with you two?" he asked.

"Jesus Jasper!" Edward screamed, throwing his soda in midair. "Really, your face has to be this close to mine? Bella's driving down the middle of the highway and your being a creep right now."

"You two are screwing aren't you?" he accused.

"What?" I exclaimed.

I heard him whisper something completely inaudible.

"No!" Edward exclaimed. "Now will you sit back and stop acting so weird."

"Well something is going on… will you tell me what it is?"

"Nothing is going on Jasper, will you stop!" I screamed. "Sit back!"

"No, tell me… I can see it in your guys' faces you're lying to me. Are you banging my sister?!"

"I can't-" I began.

"No, you know what, I'm sick of this." Unable to move my eyes from the road, I heard slapping and grunting sounds from the back of the car.

"Yes, we are seeing each other!"

"You sleep with my sister?!" I heard more slapping, and ruffling around.

The car started shaking with all of their movement and I moved to the next lane, trying to avoid an accident.

"Will you two stop?" I asked… and the slapping continued.

It's true. They fought like teenage girls.

A shoe was inches away from kicking in my face. "Jasper, move your foot!"

"No I didn't!" Edward made a rasping sound.

"Are you choking him?" I screamed. I looked around to see Jasper on top of Edward and I slapped him. "GET OFF!"

The car swerved over into the next lane a little. "WATCH THE ROAD!" They screamed.

"I'm not… I swear, I wouldn't disrespect her like that. I love her, man." He said out of breath. "I love her, Jasper."

They finally started stopped hitting each other and moved to either side of the seat.

It was quiet for a minute, my anger fueling by the second. I pulled into the vacant beach parking lot and shut the car off.

"My best friend… and my best sister…" I heard him say. I turned around then, glaring at them.

"What is wrong with you two?" I asked, louder than necessary.

They sat away from each other, looking out either window. "Jasper, I love him. I can't help that, and you can't do anything to stop it. If and when we _do _sleep together it will be none of your business."

"I'm just trying to hel-," he started, before I cut him off.

"Don't," I stopped him. "You don't get to look out for me when you've spent every hour of your life upstairs, _getting high_, in that goddamn room! When you prove that I, that we, actually mean something to you then you can have a right to say something about Edward and I being together. But even then, it's none of your fucking business."

He took a shaky breath and left the car.

I shut my eyes, realizing everything I'd just said.

I turned back around and put my head to the steering wheel.

I felt the car shift again and turned around to see Edward watching me. "I… I didn't mean to be so harsh…"

"I know."

"I just didn't want him to be so-," I started.

"I know."

We sat in silence and I saw Alice's car pull in. "I'll be right back."

Edward nodded and we got out of the car. I started to walk towards the beach and Edward pulled me in for a hug. "Don't punch my brother again At least not in my car."

"Agreed."

"Good." I kissed his cheek slyly before I walked down the hill leading down to the beach. The wind blew heavily, blowing my hair in every direction. I spotted Jasper a few feet away from the shore.

I walked behind him. He turned and smiled genuinely.

"Please don't say you're sorry," he began. "I'm so sick of this _generic_ thing we all call an apology."

"I wasn't going to," I stated.

He nodded.

"I didn't mean to be so loud and harsh, Jasper. I just… miss you. I miss you so much, and it's like every day you don't even want to see me. Or Edward, or Alice… any of us. I get it, it's just how you are. You've always been depressed. But… not like this."

He cringed. "I'm not any worse."

"No, but you're not any better."

"Not than you," he retorted.

"At least I'm making an effort."

"Yeah, but where does that put you in the end? The same spot I am."

"How can you say that? Like you have nowhere to go, as if there's no way for you to feel better when you've never even tried."

He stared at something ahead. He plopped onto the ground, setting his elbows against his knees as he watched. "Sit down."

I sat next to him and followed his eyes to the ocean. It was deep blue, the color matching the dark clouds rolling in above us. The waves made a low crashing sound, it was relaxing almost.

"Beautiful but terrifying," he whispered.

"Yeah…"

We stayed silent for a little bit. I leaned back and let the wind blow against me.

"I registered for Community College last week…"

I looked at him, a smile breaking over my face. "Really?"

He nodded. "I'm a little late, but I still got financial aid-," he was cut short by my squeezing him to death.

"Jasper that's great!"

"I didn't want to say anything… I just don't know what I want to do. And if I told dad he'd just give me shit about not knowing what I want to do."

"No, he won't… dad loves you, he wants you to figure out what you want but he's not going to rush you."

"Maybe, but maybe not."

"Jasper, this is really amazing…"

"I know right? Community college." He laughed teasingly.

"So what? It doesn't matter where you go."

He smiled then. "Let's make a deal."

"Okay." I waited.

"You stop worrying so much about me, and I'll figure out what I want to do with my life. _And _I will never bring up your sex life again. It's a win, win."

"I can't just guarantee you I won't worry about you Jasper. But I can try to stop being so much…"

"Like mom," he ended. "It will be good enough. Deal?"

I nodded. "Deal."

"Good…" he looked behind us and I turned to see everyone walking over to us. "Do they know?"

"Alice knows. But I think I've had my thrill of excitement for today…"

He nodded. "Are you going to tell them?"

I nodded. "Of course… eventually…"

I watched as Emmett pushed Edward into the sand, for no apparent reason.

"Maybe _not_."

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**Authors note: "My best friend... and my best sister..." lol. I admit I totally heard that on supernatural. It's just funny that people say things that don't make sense when they're angry. **

**So this chapter was focused more on Jasper, and the first few will definitely focus on the characters background story before I shoot into the plot. **

**To clear things up, incase you haven't got the gist yet:**

**Jasper x Bella are siblings. Jasper and Alice aren't together, as of the moment. And the other character relationships aren't explained yet.**

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**So. Thoughts?**


	3. Bella Tells the Truth

**Author's Note: This may seem a little confusing at first, but read on and you'll see what I mean.**

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**The One Where Bella Tells the Truth**

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_No one wants to talks about the truth. _The truth is the part of your brain you stay away from, because it's a hellish nightmare that leads you stuck in a ditch somewhere in eastfuck nowhere. The truth is, truth sucks ass.

The truth is, everyone knows about it but doesn't talk about it. The truth is, everyone talks about it but no one can let you know that they talk about it.

Three years ago, I would have never told a lie. I would be honest about every aspect of my day, anything anyone told me or something I overheard. But life is a bitch, as I've learned.

_**A little over three years ago…**_

"_Bella…"_ I felt the bed shaking beneath me.

_Not an earthquake. _

"_Not_ now," I wrapped my cover tighter around my body.

I felt him lay next to me and I shut my eyes tight. If he would just leave me alone my life would be so much easier.

"_Charlie is going to kill you," I mumbled._

"_He knows I'm here." _

I pulled the pillow over my head and fell back asleep.

I'm not going to give you the despairing details following the months after my mother's death, but I will tell you that nights like this went on for weeks. I would wake up in the middle of the night and not move. I would find something in the room to stare at and watch it. The green walls in my room, I would stare and picture my mother painting them with me. And I'd fall back asleep, pretending that Edward wasn't even right by my side.

Eventually my dad couldn't tolerate it anymore. So he called the nearest hospital so I could get help. Edward fought him on it, although he would eventually let him go.

By definition, I wasn't in a 'mental institution'. I was in a care center for young adults with a mental disorder. I'd been here before, but never inside the actual hospital.

I guess I finally came to complete consciousness when I saw a group of girls fighting in the waiting room, and I realized that I was in a crazy hospital. And that meant I was crazy, which I was sure I wasn't.

I grabbed the nearest phone and called my dad to pick me up.

He said something around the lines of "about time" and picked me up less than an hour later. He argued with the nurse for a few minutes, but she sort of just looked at me and had him sign something.

When we left we didn't go straight home. Instead, at three in the morning he took me to a coffee house and made me eat a stack of waffles.

"_You know Bella, I lost my wife a few months ago. I don't want to lose my daughter too. You slept in that room for months. I had to do something… anything to get you help baby."_

_I nodded. "I know. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened."_

"_You were grieving, honey. Everyone has their own ways of grieving, yours was just a little more severe. Just from now on, take the medication. At least for a little while… okay?"_

I agreed to take the medication the doctors prescribed, and we didn't talk about it anymore.

The medication helped, to an extent. My medications were constantly shifting. When I got older I got stronger medication. I started shifting between Zoloft, Paxil, Effexor, and Lexapro… The only one I found the most suitable being Lexapro. But the shifts between taking the medication would make me exhausted for periods of time.

Eventually it got exhausting, putting a pill to my mouth and hoping it will have a better affect on me than the last one.

After two years I finally stopped taking the medication altogether, which wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Especially when I had my brother in the next room, taking what I was taking and encouraging me to keep taking them.

Jasper still relies on his medication to get him through his life. He told me once you start relying on your medication you can't just stop. So he got his doses lowered, but it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Unlike me, Jazz was always on medication. Even before mom died, he was depressed. He'd have anxiety attacks all the time, mood swings, feel sick from little things like family barbeques. Renee told me it was a genetic disorder, and that there was other kids just like him out there.

There was never anything _wrong _with it, it just meant he wasn't going to be happy all the time.

I guess it's the Cullen's that keep Jasper a little happier every day. When he sees Alice acting like a five year old, knowing she's a twenty year old girl going to nursing school, his face lights up like he's seeing god for the first time.

But they're _just friends. _Yeah, right. That's like me telling everyone I _didn't _stare at Edward's sweaty body when we ran that marathon last spring; everyone knew it was a lie.

He's been in love with her since he was six years old.

I think she loves him too, which is why she's never committed to a single thing in her life. Not the Ivy League school she could have gone too, or the apartment she thought about in Seattle. She's waiting for him.

That's how the Cullen's are… patient and understanding.

_**The Present**_

So I guess that's what leads me here, where a certain Cullen wasn't so patient and understanding.

Edward had been bugging the hell out of me to tell my dad about our current relationship status. So that night, when we were about to leave the beach… I decided to just go with it.

We sat at the kitchen table, our palms molding together with sweat and fear. Charlie stared at us, watching us as if we were a newly discovered species, occasionally glancing at the space between us.

Then his expression changed, instead he watched the table and furrowed his eyebrows like he did when he played digital poker.

This went on for another five minutes, until he finally slammed his fist into the table. Edward and I both jumped, backing out of our seats a little.

We watched him shake his head. "You know… it's about goddamn time you two got together."

I gaped like a fish.

"What?!" Edward asked, sounding infuriated.

Charlie laid back in his seat and pulled a cigar out of his breast pocket. "Yeah, I mean I've been waiting for this for a long time," he put the tobacco between his lips and lit it. "I even bought this cigar for this occasion."

"You've got to be kidding me?!" I threw my arms up. "You just-!"

"Charlie," Edward interrupted me. "Are you feeling okay? Are you having any dizziness or abnormal headaches?"

"That's a valid question," I agreed, urging him to go on.

He pursed his lips together and shrugged. "I feel fine."

Edward slammed his fist into the table then, making me jump.

What the hell is with everyone slamming their fist into the table?

"This is a joke… Charlie, you're seriously not mad?" He stood up. "You have to yell at me, or something… you do realize I am wearing a _bulletproof _vest right now."

…And I thought I was being melodramatic.

"This is ridiculous…" he continued. "I just… I'm trying to understand how you don't want to kill me right now. You should be pulling your rifle on me. I mean you've been tormenting me, telling me to never lay a hand on her. And you're just fine right now!"

Charlie took a long puff from his cigar and looked up to him. "Did you get her pregnant?"

Huh?

Edward paused, confused, then looked at me and I rolled my eyes. "Dad, really? No I'm not pregnant."

As if it were even possible…

Charlie huffed a laugh. "See buddy… I don't have a reason to kill you. Yet."

* * *

**A/N: I know... sad. But at least Bella finally told Charlie, right?**


	4. The One Where Alice Talks

**A/N: Hey guys!. Thanks for you guys who are giving me feedback, I appreciate it!**

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**The One Where Alice Talks…**

* * *

If there's anything to be said about my family that's absolutely 100% true, there is one thing: we're loud. Every single one of us are extremely loud. Even our friends are loud… it's just who we are.

The only time you'll catch us being quiet is when we're eating. And it gets weirdly quiet for fifteen minutes.

The thing is, we all talk over each other constantly. So when someone has news to bring up, no one knows because it's a never ending cycle of loud, obnoxious, _pointless_ hollering.

Don't get me wrong… I love it. Every single loud word.

But I knew it would become a problem when Bella and Edward stepped into the kitchen for Friday night Dinner. Everyone, even my mother was talking.

Tonight she made a point to embarrass Emmett for ruining the cake she'd been working on all afternoon. He walked by and stuck his fingers into the frosting, and Esme starting screaming.

"You're _disrespectful,_ Emmett!" she screamed, flailing her arms around the stove where she cooked.

"Ma, I'm sorry. It just looked so fucking good I couldn't help myself."

Her eyes widened. "Did you just cuss?"

Emmett looked at me and I shook my head in disproval. I looked down at the dinner rolls and grabbed a knife to start cutting them.

"Mom, I'm sorry."

"No, in my house. Talking about _my _cooking, you cussed about my _cooking." _She hit him with a silicone spatula.

"Mom, no I said it looked fucking good, I was complimenting you."

"You're kissing my ass is what your trying to do!" she turned around to the stove. The bickering continued.

I finished slicing the bread and looked over to Edward and Bella.

I watched as they smiled at each other. Not talking, just smiling. They looked around curiously. I saw them behind my dad, standing there as if they were waiting.

Waiting for them to shut up.

Bella caught me staring at her and she gave a small smile. She looked around again, then at me. I watched her mouth form into the word 'help'.

I nodded, and set the knife down. I hopped off the stool I was sitting on and climbed on the first step to peer over at my family.

They all looked like Meerkats.

"Hello," I began.

They continued to talk. The only one who bothered to look at me was Jasper. He looked at me and a small smile grew on his face.

Yeah, sit there and let me look stupid.

I took a deep breath and put my fingers to my lips, blowing out a loud whistle.

Maybe it was louder than necessary. Everyone shut their mouths and looked up at me, and I officially felt embarrassed.

"Jesus, guys… Bella and Edward have been standing there for fifteen minutes."

We looked at them and Bella forced a smile on her lips. "Uh… it can wait, no rush."

She started to turn away, but was stopped by Edward.

"Bella and I are seeing each other. Dating… involved… soul mates-"

"Okay, that's a little dramatic," Bella shook her head, and started walking away again.

Edward pulled her by the hood of her jacket, forcing her to stay.

"We didn't want to make a fuss or anything but we've been seeing each other for a month and a half now... so keep your comments to yourself, and if you'll be needing us we'll be upstairs in my room," he started walking away, but paused to look at Emmett ruefully. "_Not _having sex."

This time he grabbed Bella, who looked like she was suffering from stage freight, and moved her away from the kitchen.

I huffed out a long breath. "Oh, well," I hopped off the stool, dusting bread crumbs from my legs. "Glad that's out of the way."

I heard a small noise from my mother, who was now staring out the kitchen window, eyes welled with tears.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I asked, walking over to her side.

She blinked, shaking her head. Tears rolled down her cheek. "I've been waiting for this moment for… my god, 12 years…. And Edward… he just handled that moment perfectly."

I looked at the counter, furrowing my eyebrows.

_Is she on drugs? That was the worst confession I've seen in my life. _

"Mom, don't cry," I wiped her cheek with my sleeve.

"I can't help it… I feel like my family is… it feels so… almost complete…" she covered her face.

_What a weirdo…_

_Then again, we did see this coming._

_But I definitely didn't cry when I found out they were together. I just lost a bag of groceries on the piggly-wiggly parking lot._

My dad came over with a wide smile on his face. "My girl," he cooed. "I know."

I watched as he wrapped my mom in a hug, and let her cry in his arms.

"Um… I'm going to the bathroom… call me when dinners ready." I told them.

She pulled back and smiled at me.

I walked over to where Jasper sat, by the buffet counter. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Meet me in the garage."

He nodded and I snuck down the hallway leading out to the garage. I shut the door behind me and found the Juicy Fruit tin I used to store my stash in.

This was starting to become a tradition between Jasper and I, smoking out moms garage before we eat dinner.

I heard the garage door open and saw Jasper walking in. He lit a cigarette and walked over to moms craft table.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked as I sat down.

I smiled, putting the paper to my lips. "I don't understand my mom's reaction to things."

"Are you upset?" he asked.

"No, of course I'm not upset," I lit the joint to my lips. "I just wish I knew why people start crying over something so…"

"Expected?"

"Yeah… sort of." I inhaled it and let it linger in my lungs. I extended my arm to give the joint to him.

"Well not all of us can be so chill," he winked, taking a long hit.

I laughed, smoke falling from my lips. "Yeah right," I pulled my knees up to my stomach. "I don't really care… maybe one day I'll get it… crying over nothing."

"I've cried over nothing," Jasper shrugged. "It just… happens."

He passed the joint to me and I frowned. "Do you ever know why?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, Alice… it just hits you. It's just a moment in your life when everything becomes so surreal, overwhelming. Sometimes it's when I'm stoned and thinking too much. Sometimes it's because I'm too happy and I know it won't last forever. So you just… cry. Crying isn't always a bad thing. It can be good."

I watched him mindfully, taking in what he said.

Jasper had a reason to cry, he had many reasons to cry. The worst reason I've had to cry is missing a shoe sale last week. I'd never lost my mother, or almost lost a sister. When Renee died I cried, but I can't remember crying too much after that.

_What other reason could there be?_

"You know we have to stop getting stoned in your mom's garage," he pointed to the koala art on the wall. The collage was made up of five hundred koalas… just koalas, with different tints in the pictures. "These koalas are really fucking with me."

I busted out laughing. "Oh my god," I looked up at the picture and saw one of the koalas eyes twitch. I gulped. "I know what you mean."

He snorted.

"I wonder how much snot you just swallowed."

"It wasn't that much," he blinked.

"Gross…" I laughed. "Well I have to stop getting high at some point anyway. I can't be stoned when I start taking care of patients. I'll lose my license before I even get it."

He shrugged. "Is it really that big of a deal anymore?"

"I know three girls who got there certification taken away from them because of pot," I shook my head. "Never mind that there's one girl who takes patient's _medication, _and she's still clicking her shoes around that floor."

He scowled. "That's stupid."

We finished the joint and somehow lost track of time when we started watching the koala art again.

"Come on… I think I hear Esme calling."

I nodded, closing the container. I hid the tin behind my dad's old toolbox and opened the garage door leading back to the house.

I looked up to see my dad standing with a glass of wine in his hands. I froze, putting my hands on either side of the door frame, as if I was shielding Jasper. He sniffed and cocked an eyebrow at me.

He opened his mouth, then shut it.

"You need to stop getting high before your mothers dinners, both of you. I think she's starting to take offense to it." He shook his head and walked away.

_That just happened…_

"Well, I think I shit myself a little," Jasper uttered.

"_You_ think," I walked up to the stair leading to the hallway. "My heart just fell to my butt."

I felt a sharp smack on my ass, making me jump.

I looked at Jasper and he smiled. "Feels fine to me."

He winked and strolled ahead of me.

My jaw dropped a little and I found myself still standing a yard away from him.

"Asshole," I mumbled.

"I don't think I slapped you that hard, hon."

I scowled.

I followed him into the dining room where everyone was already sitting and chatting. I found two empty places and sat down beside Jasper.

"Sup, stoner," Emmett said, mouth full of food.

"Shut up, douche," I flicked his ear. He pushed away from me and continued to demolish his plate.

I looked down at the food, suddenly aware that I was starving. I grabbed the spoon and plopped a pile of pasta on my plate and dug in.

After a few very large bites I looked over at Jasper to see he was doing the same, scarfing down his food like a wild dog. I started laughing, my mouth filled with pasta.

He looked over and saw my halfway finished plate and laughed. I put my head down, attempting not to laugh so hard but instead found myself spitting out my food.

"Aw, growsh," Jasper cringed, still laughing.

I grabbed a napkin and cleaned the mess from my lap. I looked up and saw my mom glaring at me.

I cleared my throat and bit my lip. "Um… the food is really good tonight mom."

She stared, taking a long breath. "Thank you."

She took her glass of wine and finished it.

I finished the plate and tuned into the conversation between Edward and Bella about planning some sort of date night. I guess they really needed to be alone.

"So," Esme began. "I assume you all took off work for vacation, right?"

"Yeah!" we all said.

We had been planning this cruise for almost a year. We had almost every detail planned out, until this morning when Esme called to make a reservation and I guess something went wrong.

"Good. Now, the thing is we did book in advance, but they're having a room shortage because of some problems with the appliances. Meaning some of you are going to have to share. So there's three rooms, six of you. I suggest you work that out, amongst yourselves. But whatever you do, you _are all going_ to be there."

_Three rooms? Six of us… well obviously Emmett and Rose are going to want to be together. But then, now that Edward and Bella… oh my god, that means…_

I looked at Jasper and over to Edward and Bella.

They were smiling and making their usual 'sex eyes' at each other… _gross._

"I guess that's you and me, kiddo," Jasper said. He stood up and grabbed my plate.

I froze, watching him walk into the next room.

_I'm sharing a room with Jasper._

* * *

**Author's Note: Just a little about Alice.**


	5. The One With the Ferris Wheel

**Author's note: So while I was rewriting this chapter I had the same five 90s songs on repeat. I swear I've heard Dreams by the Cranberries like 30 times now. Someone just stop me. **

**So I'm going to bed. But you'll hear from me again next week!**

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**The One With the Ferris Wheel**

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I've never been good about being sneaky. I've attempted sneakiness many times, and I'm no good at it. Guaranteed to fail 100% of the time. I've never been good at sneakiness, until I realized I wanted to spend every waking moment of my life with Edward.

Now, I'm a pro.

I plan my attacks ahead of time, watching where my brother throws his shoes before he marches up the stairs to his room; just so I know exactly where I'm going to trip. Why not just move the shoes? It's too suspicious.

I also keep tabs on Charlie, and what times he falls asleep each night of the week.

This time I had to make it down the stairs without my dad waking up from his spot on the living room couch, where he had the TV on silent. He was making this game a lot more difficult.

I tiptoed quietly, careful to step away from the creepy spots on the stairs. When I reached the last step, I carefully pinched my house key off of the hanging board and opened the front door.

I spotted Edward standing outside, leaning against his Volvo. He was smoking a cigarette and looking at his phone, playing a game. I shut the door behind me and stared at him.

His outfit was not the usual 'tee and jeans'. Tonight he wore a dark button-up shirt and a new pair of dark blue jeans. He was extremely sexy.

I looked down at my white blouse, khakis and Toms; feeling underdressed for whatever he was about to drag me into.

He looked up and flashed his gorgeous smile at me. He threw his cigarette on the ground and I pretended to walk away from him.

He caught onto what I was doing and frowned, walking even further away from me as if he was going to get in his car. I laughed and he paused. I ran over to him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

"You're going to get me in trouble, Cullen," I whispered. He tangled his arms around my waist.

"You're nineteen," he pushed my bangs out of my face. "Charlie can't expect you to stay in every night watching reruns of CSI."

"Oh, he does." I laughed. "I'm under his roof, I follow his rules."

"But you _don't_ follow his rules," he sighed. "So why don't you live with me?"

"What?" I laughed. "No, I don't think so."

"Why not? We can get a place together, closer to _school_. I can bring Jaeger. It'll be fun."

I shook my head. "You're insane. Yeah. You, me, and the dog."

"Think about it, Bella. You may realize you want to more than you think."

He kissed my cheek and opened the passenger door.

"So where are we going?"

I watched as a grin formed on his lips and he shut the door.

He got in on the other side, still grinning. "We're going on a date."

"A date? It's eleven o' clock at night…"

He nodded. "I know it is. But we've been dating for over a month and I have yet to take you on an _actual _date. And I'm going to make that up to you, I promise. But for now I have something else in mind."

"You don't need to take me on a date to win me over, Cullen… I'm all yours."

"While I appreciate you saying that, it doesn't make up for the fact that I haven't been treating you right. You still deserve to be treated like a lady," he said as he started the car. "I haven't been proving myself to be much of a gentleman thus far, so I'm going to start tonight."

I laid back in my seat as he drove off my street and down the road leading to the highway. "So, as a gentlemen are you permitted to tell me where it is we are going tonight, exactly?"

He smiled. "It's sort of a surprise… and I say 'sort of' because I know you much you hate surprises."

I frowned, trying to think places he would take me at this time of night. I couldn't think of anything other than the Ice Cream palace.

"I still can't figure out where we're going."

He chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "No offense, dear, but that's kind of the idea."

"Stupid spontaneous romantic…" I pouted, crossing my arms. "You know I would be happy with just making out in your bedroom."

He looked at me and shook his head. "Which contradicts the idea of me being a gentleman Bella."

I paused. "You know, now that I think about it… we've just been eating and making out this whole time, haven't we?"

He tilted his head to the side. "Not that I'm complaining, but essentially yes."

"Oh my god… Edward. We're like Emmett and Rose… minus the sex part," I looked out the window. "What happens to us when we do have sex?"

He laughed. "The sad thing is, I see exactly where your concern is coming from. I think we'll be like them, but with a little more coherency."

I thought back to the moment when Emmett and Rose first got together. We were Juniors in High School and they had been dating for a little over a month.

It was a weekend and Edward, Alice, and Emmett decided to throw a shindig in the basement. We were all just sitting around, listening to music, and drinking whatever we could get our hands on. And out of nowhere Rose stood up and took Emmett's hand, leading him into his bedroom. And we heard everything, from then on out…

_Everything._

I shivered, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"I promise I won't have sex with you for the first time when there are people in the house," Edward said. "I may do other things. But not that."

I laughed, feeling a little bad when I remembered his first time was in a crowded house too. I didn't ask him about it, I never felt curious enough to ask him. Until now…

I pushed the thought to the side and watched as he pulled off the highway to a place I hadn't seen before. There was an empty sign before a large parking lot with the words "Not Opened, Amusement Park". The lot was vacant with the exception of a single patrol car near a large black gate.

"Won't we get in trouble?" I asked.

He shook his head and parked the car in the closest spot in the lot. "Stay right here."

I nodded, feeling anxious.

I watched as he ran across to the closed gate leading to the amusement park and waved his hand. I squinted my eyes and saw the shadow of someone waving back to him.

He jogged over to the car and opened the passenger door to let me out. He extended his hand out to me. "My lady," he said fancily.

I pushed my newly-discovered anxiety to the side and grabbed his hand. "What a gentleman."

He shut the door behind me and walked me up to the gate. I watched as he pulled a key from his back pocket and began unlocking several chains. I looked around and saw a 'no trespassing' sign, then looked back at Edward.

"A friend of mine owed a favor," he answered. "He works here overnights."

I nodded, feeling a little more relieved to know we weren't breaking the law alone.

He cracked the gate open and I slid past the metal bar. He shut it behind him and set the key a few feet away. "Follow me."

He took my hand and led me through a few 'About the Park' signs. "It's not even open yet?"

He nodded. "It was just built a little while ago."

I followed him past several Roller Coasters and concession stands until we reached a large Ferris Wheel. It was a Classic Ferris Wheel, with red seats and bulbs on it. I hadn't seen one like this, only in movies. There were no gates surrounding the chairs, just bars to hold and seat belts.

I saw a man standing by the ride and he gestured for us to come over.

"Here you go man," he said. He looked at me and smiled. "Hi, I'm Eric."

Eric was somewhat good looking, although his sense of style hadn't necessarily agreed with him. He looked like he just stepped out of a rave wearing neon yellow sneakers and bright pink V-neck shirt. His skin tone was olive, and he had dark black hair.

I smiled, waving my hand at him. "Hi I'm Bella."

"Nice to meet you Bella," he smiled. "I've heard a lot about you. You kids have fun. When you're ready to come down, holler for me. I'll just be down here," he held a sandwich up. "Eating my sub."

Edward took my hand and pulled me up the steps leading to the seat. He put a large metal bar down on our legs and pulled the buckle around us. I heard a loud noise that sounded similar to an engine revving. Then the lights switched on, illuminating our skin.

My face lit up as the colors starting changing around us. It was pretty, flashing from blue, to yellow, to orange. Slowly the lights started to dim until it was a classic yellow, and stayed that way.

"When we get to the top, look straight ahead," he said.

I nodded.

The Wheel jerked a little, but then slowly started turning. I watched as the dark shady silhouettes of the trees slowly disappeared the higher up we got, until soon all we could see was the lights in the distance.

It was small, but I could tell it was the city from here. The street lights, buildings, cars… every light was visible from the distance. It was beautiful, the lights reflecting in the sky to illuminate it perfectly.

The wind softly beat against my face and I sighed in contentment.

I leaned my head against Edward's shoulder. "This is perfect, Edward."

"It's pretty neat, isn't it? When its night, you see so much more than you would in the daylight," he wrapped his arm around me.

"Thank you," I looked up to him. "You're the _perfect _gentleman."

He smiled. "I was hoping you'd get that idea from me."

"Oh, yes, of course. Edward Cullen, the most ideal gentleman in town," I waved my hand in front of my face. "All the girls want to be courted by him."

He let out a chuckle. "Oh, really? You know what, Bell… I think it's time I just push you off the Ferris Wheel."

I laughed. "See, you ruined it. This whole gentleman thing is just, erased from my mind. Just like that. It's gone."

"Just like that?" he frowned. "Damn… I mean I was hoping I'd at least get another chance."

"Oh, right? In this scenario when I'm done getting psychical therapy…"

"Yeah, you know, or maybe like… we could've tried this again. Without me referring to myself as a gentleman."

I shook my head. "No, that won't be necessary. Even if you pushed me off the Ferris Wheel, I'd still be in love with you."

"Would you?"

I smiled, watching his face. "You know, I didn't just decide that I was in love with you that night, Edward."

His eyes met mine. "I know… at least I thought I knew."

"Well you were right," I said. "It was never a mistake. I was always in love with you."

I watched as his expression went from loving to guilty. He tilted his head down and took his hand away. "I know."

"What's wrong?" I asked, confused by his sudden change of mood.

"It's just that I, uh," he shrugged. "I know you don't expect me to apologize for Tanya."

"You've already apologized to us-"

"I did, I know that. But what meant the most to me was that _you knew_ how sorry I was…" he ranted. "The thing is, I knew I was in love with you before I even saw her. But I just lost sight of who I was for a minute and I just wanted to fuck her. I didn't care about anyone, what anyone thought of me, not even you. All I had in my mind was _lust_. And If I would have just considered how much I was hurting you, I wouldn't take another glance at her..."

I stayed quiet for a moment, letting Edward get everything out.

I had no reason to be angry with him. He was just a teenage boy, chasing the prettiest whore in school. And she let him. Granted, he did act like an asshole. But we all had times where we treated each other like shit… I couldn't hold that against him. I didn't care anymore.

"Edward, it doesn't matter to me anymore. I don't care what happened," I repeated. He looked up. "That was three years ago. The past is in the past. I've let it go… so will you?"

He nodded and rested his forehead to mine. "I won't stop feeling guilty, Bella. It's in my blood."

I sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You're an idiot."

"I know."

"But I love you."

"I love you, too."

"How many people do you think are getting laid down there?" I asked, attempting to change the subject.

He thought for a moment. "I don't know… ten… twenty… there's probably someone screwing in the woods over there."

I laughed.

I held onto his hand and moved my head to kiss him. He let out a sigh and tangled his fingers in my hair. I placed my hands on either side of his face, not letting him move.

I finally pulled back, letting him breath. He grabbed my hand and I laid my head on his shoulder. I stared at the lights again and then looked at the moon.

"Thank you, for everything… this night was... amazing."

"You're welcome," he kissed my forehead. "I want to show you a little more of the world outside of my bedroom."

"I don't mind your bedroom," I joked. "But this is nice, also."

We stayed for another ten minutes, just watching the lights. "Are you ready?"

I nodded. "I don't think I'll ever be ready to leave, but I'm going to have to pee eventually so…"

He nodded and yelled down for Eric to continue the ride.

When the Wheel came to a complete stop, we unbuckled and hopped off of the chair. I waved at Eric as I passed and he winked at me. I thanked him for letting us in.

"No problem, honey. See ya Edward," he waved, as we started walking towards the gate.

"How _do_ you know Eric?" I asked as he unlocked the latch on the gate, setting the key on the ground for Eric to get later.

"You know that guy, Ben, I work with?"

I thought for a moment and nodded.

"That's his boyfriend."

I paused. "Oh… _ohhhh_."

"Yeah," he nodded.

"So… what kind of favor did you do for Ben's boyfriend?" I asked as we reached the car.

He smiled then. "Well, I sort of got the two together in the first place."

"Really?"

He nodded. "You know me… the matchmaker."

I laughed. "You are generally known as the matchmaker. So how did you figure out that they were both gay in the first place?"

"Well, one day Eric came in and was complaining that he was having trouble with his car. I saw Ben staring at him like he wanted to eat him alive. So I looked at his car, and gave him Ben's number."

"And I'm guessing this is what leads you to his special favor?"

He nodded. "You guessed it. I fixed his car and got him his fiancée."

He opened the passenger door for me again. I got in and waited for him to get in on the other side. I watched as he got in, slamming the door shut behind him.

He looked at me questioningly. "What?"

I shook my head. "Nothing," I said, before leaning in to kiss him.

He kissed me back, but instead of stopping I refused to let him pull back. I kissed him forcefully, moving my lips roughly between his. When I knew he was starting to lose his breath, I pulled back slightly to lick his bottom lip.

I opened my eyes and saw a bit of darkness in them. He breathed heavily, pulling me back to him.

Carefully, he grabbed my right thigh and pulled me over his lap to straddle his waist while moving us to the center of the seat. His hands stayed firmly on my outer thighs, but started to drift outward.

I moaned, tugging on the collar of his shirt. He started kneading my thighs, moving inward as I nipped at lip. He stopped then, grabbing my neck and back, and laid me against the seat.

I thought for a moment, and then pushed him back a little further. Curious, he kept his eyes on mine as I reached up to the top of my blouse, where a small knot kept the top of my blouse open. His eyes slowly drifted down to where I began exposing myself. I tugged on the string lightly, revealing the top of my chest.

He watched as I pulled the string from the first few knots on my shirt, revealing more and more of my breast. Once I reached the edge of my bra, Edward stopped me.

I knew he wasn't just going to let me show him my goods for the first time in the front seat of his car. It wasn't the 'Lady' thing to do.

He held my hands between his, planting them right beneath my bra. My heart skipped a beat as his face moved down to my collarbone, placing his lips against my skin.

I suppressed a sigh, afraid to make any sudden movements. I felt his lips move, dragging slowly down to the top of my right breast. I shut my eyes and fell into oblivion for a tiny moment.

I took a deep breath, my chest rising against his wet lips.

He smiled, looking up at me. He finally released the hold on my hands and I ran my fingers through his hair. He grabbed my hand, kissing the palm of it.

"You're hearts beating really fast."

I smiled, placing my hand against his chest. "So is yours."

"So… making out then?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

He sat up slightly and helped me lace the top back together. He kissed me once we successfully tied it back together. I laughed for a moment, probably sounding like a crazy person.

"What?"

"I was just thinking something like Wheel of Fortune."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Was that a pun?"

"It was a possible pun, I hadn't thought about it yet. But yes, it was a potential pun."

"Huh… punny," he said before he crawled over to the driver's side.

"My house or yours?"

"Hmm…"

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm a pun whore… I know. I can't help it. So there it is... a little sweetness between Edward and Bella. The original chapter didn't end as sweet, but I figured I could hold out on all the angst while still explaining what happened in the past still was an issue in their relationship.**

**So... thoughts?**


	6. The One With Edward's Wall of Self-Ctrl

**AN: This is going to be long, I know. **

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**The One with Edward's Wall of Self-Control**

* * *

Although it seems like it's all we do, it's not. I swear… We don't just spend all of our time together sucking face and staring into each other's eyes. No because that would be too easy for us.

Instead, 5% of our time together is spent making out, and the rest is Alice stealing her from me. Today I was pissed at her for doing it, again.

So I decided to play Call of Duty with Jasper, instead of going _shopping. _

_Fucking bitcchhh._

"Do me a favor?" I asked him, biting my tongue. "Just fucking kill my sister."

"I don't see that happening man," he shook his head. "Aw man! What the fuck!"

"That dick came out of nowhere," I said, running after the spot Jasper was attacked. "I'm getting him, don't worry."

"Hurry, he's right over there in the building. Second floor, 3rd room when you first walk in," he said.

"I got him," I said. "He moved to the second floor stairway. He knew I was coming for him too."

"Ha! That dick," he said, as the game ended. "Alright, I'm smoking again."

I nodded and stood up from the floor to sit on his couch. I picked up his bong and dragged it to the edge of his table. I took a hit from it, and held the smoke in.

"Why do you want to kill Alice?" he said, packing weed into his pipe.

I exhaled.

"I can't spend five minutes with Bella without Alice calling or dragging her out of the house," I told him. "Look, I know Bella's your sister, and you love her and protect her and whatever the fuck, but I have literally have spent less time with Bella since we've been together."

He looked to me, raising his eyebrow. He let out a laugh then, shaking his head. "No, that's not true."

"Yes, it is-"

"Edward, I know for a fact that you spent _every night with her."_

He was right. I had spent every night with Bella. What usually started with us texting resulted in us sleeping over in each other's room each night…

Just sleeping, with her in my arms. Not that I was complaining, I loved the closeness. However I still hadn't had time to actually _spend _with Bella.

"Yeah, _sleeping," _I informed him. "It's not like we're in there talking or…"

I stopped then, reminding myself to limit what I told him.

"You don't have to tell me," he said, tapping his ear. "I'm right next door. Besides, keep in mind that Alice is close to Bella too. That's what they do, they shop and do girl shit together."

I shrugged, and took another hit from the bong.

"Don't you ever get a little paranoid with the chief downstairs?"

_And now I'm paranoid._

He shook his head. "No, he doesn't care."

I thought for a moment, suddenly confused about Charlie.

From the moment I set foot in his house I was terrified of the man. He's made it clear to me my entire life that he was a strict man, always about having manners and telling me to keep my hands off of his daughter.

Although I had formed a bond, in a way, with Charlie; my fear of him had never really gone away. I'd been wisecracking him for years and he trusted me to an extent. However, he was Bella and Jasper's father, and he was constantly keeping me on my toes about not disappointing his children.

"Pot, and nothing else," he informed me. "Nothing else… 'If I catch you with anything else, a fucking sketchy video game and I'm going apeshit you hear'… my dad's words, not mine."

"What about Bella?"

"Well, since Bella doesn't smoke pot he thinks she's got to be on something else. But he gives her a hard time about smoking a cigarette every once in a while, why would she be on something else? I tell him this all the time, but he's all 'she's my baby, she's working hard to stay on school, I can't have something fucking up her future plans'. Fucking star pupil, that girl."

"He really looks out for her…"

"Yeah… he does. His one kid who gives a fuck," he said, taking a hit. "He has to look out for her. He's just really hard on her sometimes. She goes to college, he shuts his mouth and makes sure she stays away from drugs. And boys… I can see how that worked out."

I pursed my lips.

"No offense. I mean, he saw you coming. I just mean dipshits like Newton."

"Charlie tried to keep Newton away?" I asked, taken back by this sudden information.

He nodded. "Charlie locked him up on the night of his eighteenth birthday."

"How did I not know this…" I shook my head. "What did he arrest him for?"

"Speeding, apparently… amongst other things, he never said. Whatever it was, he steered clear of Bella for a while," Jasper shrugged.

He tilted his head back.

"So Charlie was absolutely, one-hundred percent serious about locking anyone up who laid a hand on his daughter…" I blinked. "How did he even know about…?"

"It's a small town, Edward. I think that kind of answers itself. Anyway I think Charlie liked you a lot more after that."

"He heard I punched Newton…"

"No, he heard you pulled Bella away from sucking face off."

I thought for a moment. "So did the chief just tell you all of this?"

He tilted his head to the side. "The last part, yes. He told me 'Keep a better eye on your sister, dickweed that Cullen boy is having to protect her'… the rest I found out on my own."

"Huh," I thought.

"Don't tell Bella that… she'll just fucking flip," he said. "She hates that dad involves himself in her personal life."

I heard the door slam as it hit the wall and I turned to see Bella standing in the doorway. I laughed as I took in the sight before me, while at the same time trying not to attack her. She was wearing a classic sixties pin-up style dress, black with red and pink flowers. Her hair was wavy, and wore bright red lipstick.

I looked down to see her tapping her same-old beat up converse against the wood floor. "It's time, Jasper," she looked at him.

"What?" I asked, looking over to Jasper.

He let out a sigh and glared back at his sister.  
"Oh no… here she goes… what the fuck are you wearing, Bella?" he said, as he stood up from the couch.

_Oh, she's insane... I'm glad I find out now._

"Alice got it for me," she laughed. She walked over to his stereo and turned the radio on.

She ran through the stations, occasionally stopping to tilt her head. She stopped at a Lionel Richie song and turned to look at Jasper.

He shook his head. "No, not this one. You're my _sister_."

She nodded and flipped to the next station, and smiled widely. "This one."

She reached over to the stereo and turned the knob to increase the volume.

_"Sugar… aw honey honey,"_ she sang, smiling widely at Jasper.

He let out a loud groan, rubbing his head.

I recognized the song as Sugar, Sugar by the Archies.

"Oh come, Jazz, just dance with me," she said, running across the room to take her brother's hand.

He laughed and met her in the middle of his room, snapping his fingers and tapping his feet with her.

"It's every goddamn time with you," he laughed, holding his hand up to let her twirl.

"You're adorable," I laughed. She winked at me. "And the dress too?"

"That's your sister's fault, actually," she said. "Alice had to play dress up."

Jasper let out a laugh, dancing around with her. By the looks of it, they knew exactly how to dance to this song.

"_I'm gonna make your life so sweet_," Bella sang, pointing at me and tapping her converse towards me. _"Yeah yeah yeah! Pour a little sugar on me honey…"_

I laughed at her, covering my face in embarrassment. She laughed out and continued to dance with her brother.

Maybe it was just the weed, but I was laughing way too much.

This isn't the first time Bella's made a dramatic entrance such as this one. She loved to dance, and singing was somewhat of a nature to her.

I turned to see Alice and Charlie in the doorway, buckled over laughing. Alice clutched onto her stomach, stood up and walked over to the stereo to turn it up louder.

"Come on Charlie," Alice said, dragging him in the room.

I watched as Charlie hesitantly joined Alice and starting dancing beside them.

I had to admit, Charlie's got moves. It seemed like he knew exactly what he was dancing to, swaying his hips and swinging his arms to the beat.

Bella and Jasper kept dancing, only they were now more focused on Charlie and Alice.

When the song finally came to an end, they all laughed at him and Charlie shook his head. "That was fun kids, but I think I need to see a doctor. I've pulled about every muscle in my body."

He left then, walking like a penguin and clutching onto his back. Bella sighed and walked over to plop herself on my lap. "Did you like the show?"

I nodded. "Very much. Where did you learn to dance like that?" I asked, as though it were the first time I'd seen her dancing.

"My mother went through a phase," she thought for a moment. "So I know about every dance from the 50s to the early 70s. Would you like me to show you some moves?"

"No," I shook my head, laughing. "What about modern dancing?" I asked.

She thought for a moment, puckering her lips out. "I've considered this dance 'the twerk' but nothing really spikes my interest."

I threw my head back, chuckling. "I don't blame you, it's all pretty awful."

"Bella thinks we're entering a dance competition... no." Jasper said.

"Do you remember prom night when we paid the DJ ten bucks to play 'Same old song'… we were the only ones dancing," she said.

"No, _you_ paid the DJ to play that song. _We_ just felt bad for you, so we danced with you," I corrected her. "And yes, we looked pretty ridiculous."

"It was junior year, I figured no one would remember," she shrugged, moving off my lap to sit on the couch. She pulled her shoes off and chucked them at the door.

She moved her feet on the other end of the couch and laid her head in my lap.

"Everyone remembers, Bella," Alice sighed, sitting on the arm of the couch. "How could they forget? You barely said three words all year, but you were perfectly fine with dancing in front of an audience."

Bella tilted her head to the side. "I know… I couldn't help it."

"She gets it from our mom," Jasper said, sitting on his table. "Renee was a dancer at heart."

Alice laughed then. "What are you talking about? I remember Renee being the one who_ taught_ me how to dance."

"Yeah. She taught me too," I nodded, running my hands through Bella's hair.

"She taught us all something… she would go through these phases. One second she would make jewelry, or she would start painting and want to be an artist," Bella laughed. "It's just who she was."

The room went silent for a moment.

Jasper stuck his hand out to Bella, pipe in hand. She slapped his hand away and we all laughed a little. It was pretty typical of Jasper to turn a sad moment over with a bowl of weed.

Bella sat up and leaned her head on my shoulder. "Are you ready to go?"

She smiled at me and gave me a small nod. "Just about…" she leaned over to kiss my cheek.

She grabbed her converse and sat on the couch to slip them back on. "Your shoes stink."

"Your ass stinks."

"Your legs are hairy," I retorted.

"So is your face."

"You still seem to like it," I laughed.

She started to pull away and I wrapped a hand around her neck, forcing her to kiss me again. She laughed, hitting my shoulder. She gave in, wrapping her hands in my hair, and kissed me.

"Ugh, will you get the fuck out of my room?" I heard Jasper groan.

I finally released her and flipped Jasper off. "Yeah good," he sighed. "Go."

I took Bella's hand and pulled her up.

We left the room, saying goodbye to Alice and Jasper. When we reached the hallway she stopped/

"Um…" she looked around for a minute.

"What?" I asked, looking her over. "What is it?"

She looked at me, biting her lip. "I can't wear this…"

I looked at her dress and smiled. "I don't see what the problem is, you look adorable."

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter, I can't go in public like this."

I nodded. "Then why don't you go change?"

"I…" she looked at her bedroom door. "I…"

"What's the problem?" I asked, worrying about her current mental state.

Maybe she's just dizzy from all of the dancing.

Or the dress is too tight…

It looks tight.

"I can't really… take it off," she said. "By myself."

"Oh," I said, realizing the issue. "Uh…"

Great, now I've lost my words.

_Get it together, stoner. _I told myself. _It's just a dress._

"I'll just go get Alice," she said, shaking her head. She started to turn around and I caught her by her shoulder.

"Or… I could do it?" I looked at her.

She nodded then, and looked me in the eye. "Okay… that'll work too."

I followed her into her room and she shut the door behind her.

I watched as she untied the top of her dress and let the top fall until it reached the top of her breasts, she turned around then.

I found the zipper and slid it down. It stopped, right at the bottom of her back. I cleared my throat, trying to avoid staring at her bare back. "Uh… I'll be waiting outside."

She nodded and I started towards the door.

"Or you could," she grabbed my arm. "Wait here. Just sit on my bed… and keep your eyes closed."

"Okay," I said, walking over to her bed. I covered my eyes with my hands.

"This seems silly, doesn't it?" Bella said. "I'm almost 20 years old and I'm making you close your eyes…"

"I don't mind," I said.

I felt her move my hands to my lap. "If you want to look, then look."

Jesus… what is she doing to me?

It's like she just put me in the worst situation I could have been in that moment.

I could either A, look. This would be a major change for us, considering I didn't give her let her show me her boobs the other night.

Or B, I could keep my eyes hidden. But then she would get the idea I didn't want to see her in the first place.

I opted for C.

"I want to look, but I can't," I whispered, deciding to be honest with her instead.

"Why?" she asked.

I heard ruffling around. Sounds of swishing and feet hitting the floor. Her dress, maybe?

I _should look…_

_No, don't look._

"Because I don't want to be rude."

"No offense, but I think that ship has sailed. We're all a little rude, Edward. But I don't think Jesus will smite you for looking at me naked."

She makes it so simple… pfft.

"Jesus isn't the problem, honey," I said to her.

"You can look now," I didn't move. "I'm dressed."

Trusting her, I opened my eyes to see she was in her bra with shorts on. I gulped. "Well… is this your outfit?"

She laughed. "No, I haven't considered it. But we made progress, I guess."

"Progress," I repeated. It sounded through my head like an echo.

"Edward, I don't want to move fast either," she pulled a shirt over her head. She walked over to the bed and sat beside me. "But I would be lying if I said that, me, sitting right next to you right now, on my bed, where I sleep, didn't have me thinking of a thousand things I could do to you right now."

I looked at her, confused by the words coming out of her mouth. At this point I felt slightly lightheaded.

"And stop looking at me like you're trying to protect me from something. I'm a virgin, not dying," she crossed her legs over, and turned towards me. "So will you please, tell me what the problem is?"

I gulped and shook my head.

"Edward, I'm almost 20 years old. You've been my best friend since we were babies. Three years old…"

"I thought we were five," I said, trying to change the subject.

"No, you keep saying that. I was three, I remember because we weren't even in preschool. Stay on the subject. We've been friends for almost seventeen years… please tell me what the problem is?"

"You really want to know what the problem is?" I said, pushing back. "The problem is that fifty percent of the time I'm with you I have a raging erection, and the other fifty percent of the time I'm trying to think of ways not to get one."

I looked at her and saw she smiled slightly.

She's trying not to laugh… I'm telling her my problems and she's trying not to laugh.

"The problem is that I want to make this special for you, and I'd rather not take your virginity in the front seat of my car or-or my mom's laundry room, because I think that would really suck because trust me Bella I _wanted to. _And it drives me insane," I groaned. "And every goddamned time I think I'm starting to feel alright, you come back in, _dance_ back in-not that it's your fault, you're adorable by the way-and you make me fall more in love with you and I act like a prepubescent boy who has no idea what to do about it. So here I am, and I'm just trying to show a little restraint, because I care about you Bella. And it means the world to me that I do this right, for you."

"Edward… you don't have to make it this perfect moment between us. It will be perfect, no matter what. I mean, yes I wouldn't prefer us doing it in the front seat of your car, or in your mom's laundry room… but in a way, it doesn't matter because it's you."

_It doesn't matter, because it's me, _I thought. _Great… in the meantime, I could just kill her and it won't matter because it's me._

"Bella, can you just trust me on this one? I'm asking you to please trust me."

She gulped and looked down. "I'll trust you, on my terms."

"And now this has turned into a negotiation… how did I not see this coming?"

"It is a negotiation, it's a relationship," Bella said with a stern face. "My conditions are as follows… when the moment strikes, and we both can feel it… don't hold back on me. Don't try and say it's not the right time."

I nodded. "I can deal with that."

"Don't try and plan this, Edward. It's sex, not a honeymoon. And lastly…" she took a shaky breath. "I'm asking that we… get used to each other."

I looked at her puzzlingly. "Get used to each other?"

"I mean… we've been making out and stuff, but we haven't really gone any further than that. Do you think you can push your boundaries a little further so that we can… experiment?" she said, in a low whisper.

Suddenly uncomfortable, I tried to tug against my jeans without her noticing. I nodded then.

"Okay… we've come to an agreement."

"This feels really formal…" she laughed. "I'm just going to kiss you and act like this isn't the most awkward conversation I've ever had with you."

I let out a laugh then, and reached out to touch her cheek. "Okay. I'm sorry I'm acting strange…"

"I get it," she looked down. "You're a gentleman now and I'm trying to ruin it. I'm insatiable."

"Well, yeah, you are," I laughed. "But I'm not complaining. I'm just trying to avoid having sex with you on my mom's washer. I mean, Bella that was a great night."

She rolled her eyes then, and I took the opportunity to kiss her.

This wall of self-control I'd built for her was slowly but surely crumbling down to nothing.

* * *

I named tonight as our official 'date-night'. While I originally had museums in Olympia in mind, Bella insisted that a dinner at the diner and movie would be perfectly fine. I gave in, after an hour of arguing with her.

"What is this place?" Bella looked up.

"It's a bistro," I shrugged. She made a face and I laughed. I took her hand and pulled her inside.

"I feel so fancy… Edward, I'm wearing khakis… this isn't right. I feel like a monkey in a penguin house."

I rolled my eyes as we took our seats.

"Are you cold?" I asked, humoring her.

"No, idiot." She frowned. "Everyone is wearing heels."

"I'm wearing The Pixies on my shirt," I looked down. "I think we'll be okay."

"You're hot, you could wear a Christmas sweater and rain boots and people would still ogle at you."

"I'm hot?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes.

The waitress came over to take our orders. "Two beers, please," Bella said, setting her ID down. "And, uhm… do you guys have a restroom?"

I laughed then. "Ah, don't answer her, she's just trying to figure out if it's for paying customers only. She just went to the bathroom before we walked in here."

She nodded, and took our menus. "I'll be right back."

Bella glared at me. "You never let me have fun."

"Because your idea of fun is a little mean and twisted," I told her. "I think you'll like my idea better. And put your Fake ID away, I think they'll figure out you aren't Barb Whelan who is an organ donor."

"Um, it's 'Whom is an organ donor'," she corrected me, throwing the ID back in her purse. "Don't talk so non-fancily, Edward. And she was a lovely lady."

"Right… how much did she sell you that ID for?"

"Ten bucks," she smiled, setting her arm on the stool. "I have to say, I love date night already."

I cackled a laugh and shook my head. "You're ridiculous."

She laughed then. The waitress came over with two beers and a basket of chips and salsa. "I'm starving," she took a handful of chips and shoved a large bite in her mouth, chasing it down with her beer.

"Will you eat and stop staring at me?"

"I don't think I can eat, Bella," I said, cringing. "You're grossing me out."

"I haven't ate since, like, two o clock," she said, mouth full of chips. "Give me a break."

"It's six o clock, Bella."

"Exactly," she said, chugging her beer.

I shook my head and took a long gulp from mine. The waitress came back over and set our food on the table. "Is there anything else I can get you… or, I'll just get you another beer?"

I nodded, winking. "You can keep 'em coming, she's on a roll tonight."

I felt a hard smack on the back of my head as she left. "Did you just_ wink _at the waitress?"

I sighed, rubbing the back of my head. "Did you just slap me on the back of my head?"

"Yes, I had valid reasons."

"I winked at her. She's been a trooper."

"Do you wink at all the troopers in Olympia, Mr. Cullen?" she said mockingly.

"Maybe I do," I said, crossing my arms. "It gets the best of me."

She nodded.

"You were giving that girl a hard time, I mean a _British _accent Bella? 'yezz, do you have a ladies room'," I mocked, trying to sound like her moments ago. "I think she understood that we weren't British before we even got to our table, Khakis."

She giggled. "You know me so well. And Khakis? Okay, Pixies, I don't think it gets anymore tacky than that."

I looked down at my shirt and shrugged. "It's a classic. That's fancy everywhere."

"And tacky, yes."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Unbelievable."

"Unbelievable? What kind of person doesn't let their date go to the bathroom?"

I picked up my fork and started eating the pasta, reveling in the taste. "Me, I guess," I said, swallowing. "And you had no intention of going to the bathroom."

"I was, actually," she said. "I had to powder myself."

I laughed, slamming my fist against my knees. "Like you've ever 'powdered' yourself."

"You have no idea," she said, mouth full of food.

I looked over to see Bella had already demolished majority of her food. "You eat slow…" she looked over to my plate.

"I just picked up my fork ten seconds ago," I explained.

"So did I… you're obviously stoned."

I snorted a laugh, continuing eating the Alfredo. I finished my food and looked to see Bella's empty plate.

She gulped the rest of her beer, and I followed her eyes as I did the same.

We set down our bottles at the same time and stared at each other.

"I'm still hungry."

"Me too."

"Burger king?" I suggested.

"Let's go," she nodded, hopping off of her stool.

* * *

**AN: I know, extremely long. I noticed the ones I actually rewrite, I end up combining chapters. So many of them are going to be this long, compared to the first few when I didn't make any changes at all.**


	7. June 20th Part One

**The One on June 20****th**

**Part One of Two**

Have you ever found yourself hiding the truth simply because you thought you had enough time? Time is constantly fleeting and there's nothing we can do to slow it down, or stop it all together. The longer I put off telling the truth, the bigger the ditch I bury myself in.

_"We have to say something, Bella," he whispered into my ear. "We're running out of time."_

_"I don't want to ruin the summer, Edward."_

_"What's worse? Ruining the summer or telling them right before."_

_"Both."_

_"Quit biting you nails," he said, pulling my hand away from my mouth. I sighed, tapping feet._

_"Just open it already!" I screamed._

_"Fine," he rolled his eyes and ripped the envelope open._

_**June 20****th**_

Alice's sense of fashion goes beyond my imagination in most cases, however this time I had to give her some credit. She put some thought into this outfit, and it wasn't completely ridiculous. She had chosen something she knew Edward would love, but I wouldn't completely appall.

The dress was a little short, stopping a few inches above my knees. The straps were wide, made from sheer lace. The dark green material was the only cloth covering my breast and midsection perfectly, the rest of the dress flaring out around my waist.

It's like she measured me in my sleep.

Most of the morning was filled with mimosa and photos of Alice and Edward when they were babies, part of their birthday tradition. Unfortunately Carlisle took him away from me, so instead I opted to spoil Alice all day.

Since I knew nothing about fashion, I hacked into her email last week to find out what her wish list was and bought her several fashionable scarves and shoes from the high-end websites she subscribed to. She went into tears when she opened her gifts, claiming that I'd finally taught her about fashion, and recovered when she found out that I broke into her email account.

By noon, I was impatient and starving again. Rose, Emmett and Alice decided to head out early and we took off. We arrived at _Basilico Ristorante_, a small Italian restaurant in Olympia at one and I told Rose the whole story about my date with Edward weeks ago.

"I can't believe he took you on a Ferris Wheel…" Rose shook her head. "Are you sure this was Edward? Maybe you just had a dream where Edward was really romantic and actually takes you on dates."

"_It was real_."

She stared ahead, dumbfounded. "How did he get in an amusement park in the first place?"

I scratched my head, trying to itch away the hairspray that Alice had shellacked to my head. I felt a rough slap on my hand and I turned to glare at her.

"If you keep touching my masterpiece, I'll kill you," she snarled.

Terrified, I scooted away from her.

"Happy birthday?" I said with a smile.

She wasn't always so feisty, but I wouldn't risk it.

"Can we all just revel in the fact that Bella is trashed off her ass and it's only noon," Rose said, snorting a laugh. "I mean Alice, you're a little off but I was expecting that… but _this. _I didn't see coming."

I looked over at the girl and frowned. She was watching me like I was an amusing five year old.

"Shhhhhhhh," I said. "No, Rose. No."

"How did you get to this point in your life, Bella?" Emmett asked, sitting beside me.

"Can we eat, Emmett?" I changed the subject. "And where is Edward? We've been waiting here for, like, three hours."

"No, honey," Rose corrected me. "We've been sitting here for two minutes. Edward will be here in a few, just chill out."

"She didn't realize how much alcohol was in the mimosa this morning," Alice said. "She's been drinking it like water, so basically she's consumed around two or three bottles of champagne."

"Okay, will you guys just stop talking about me like I'm not here? I'm right here," I said, waving my hands in front of me. "Yes, I'm a little drunk. But can we please get back on the topic of 'has anyone seen my Pez dispenser?'."

"Bella, you lost that Pez Dispenser when you were twelve. Will you get over it? Besides, it's a little sketchy that you're searching so much for a damn candy holder." Rose guffawed.

Bitch.

"No, I won't just get over it, Rose. That Pez Dispenser was dear to me," I said, crossing my legs. "I really have to pee. And how dare you call it a 'candy holder', what is wrong with you?"

"Well I have to say, seeing you like this has opened up my eyes a bit to the world," I pulled back to look at Emmett.

I looked around the room and back at him. "Are you being mean?" I looked at Rose. "Is he being mean?"

She blinked at me, and nodded sympathetically.

I turned back to Emmett and punched him in his shoulder as hard as I could. "OW!"

"Shhh!" I hushed him. "We're in a very nice place and you're acting like a two year old."

He glared at me, and scooted further away me. "I hope when Esme sees you this drunk she kicks your ass."

"That's not going to happen," Alice shook her head reassuringly. "Esme was the one who gave her the mimosa in the first place. She decided she wanted to get us both drunk, and I guess Bella just caved."

I smiled at her, not hearing anything she just said. "I'm so glad you decided to wear the dress."

She smiled, not saying anything.

I looked away and tried to figure out where I went wrong today, other than getting drunk. I couldn't think of anything

I looked to the door and saw Edward walking in. I dropped my jaw a little when I noticed that he wasn't wearing his typical band-shirt and dark jeans. Instead, he strode into the room wearing a dark blue blazer, a white tee shirt beneath it. I drooled a little as my eyes trailed down to his black jeans and fancy shoes.

It's like he just walked out of a George Michael's music video.

I stood up and walked over to him. He looked at me, and took his sunglasses off. "I've been waiting to see you all day."

"I've been waiting to see you too," I smiled. "Happy birthday."

"You said that to me this morning. But I can tell this is going to be an all-day thing. You look…" he stared and blinked. "You look incredible."

"Thank you," I pecked him on the lips.

I tugged on his blazer and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "You look so _fucking hot."_

He laughed and wrapped his arms around me. "You smell like booze and," he sniffed my collarbone. "Booze and cheese?"

"I had grilled cheese," I said with a stern nod.

"You never eased up on the mimosa after breakfast once I left, did you?" he asked, the humor behind his eyes was obvious.

I pursed my lips, and slowly inched away.

_Stop acting so weird, Bella._

_I think it's just best if I take a few steps back, just in case._

I stopped when I bumped into a vase, and stopped myself from tipping it over.

"My mother?" he pushed.

I shrugged. "I mean, she was very gracious to me."

He looked at me, squinted his eyes. "You're acting weird."

"I'm weird? You stole my Pez Dispenser, Edward."

"You still remember that?" he laughed. "Huh."

"I remember the day clearly now… you fucking Pez Dispenser thief," I huffed, crossing my arms. "Talk about weird. Who steals a young girls candy-"

I stopped my rant as a couple passed, glaring at Edward.

"You don't need it now anyway, that's really sketchy. And try to be a little nicer, it's my birthday," he said, rubbing his chest.

I eyed him for a moment. "What's wrong with you?"

"You know, Bella's right," Emmett stood up and moved beside me. "She may be drunk, but she knows what she's talking about."

Edward turned his head to the side a bit, keeping his eyes glued to Emmett.

"Oh my god, you're drunk too!" he boomed.

I stared at Edward.

"You _do _have my Pez Dispenser don't you?!" I accused, louder than necessary.

He looked at the floor guiltily and then back at me.

"Oh my god, you do! Give it here!" I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door.

"No way, drunkie," I felt Emmett grab my arm. "You're not going anywhere. Let's get you some coke and a greasy burger."

He dragged me down the hallway to the table and I looked back at Edward. "Your brother is acting so weird today, he keeps talking about doing coke with me."

Everyone busted out laughing, and tried to regain their composure when the busser shot them a glare.

We were shown our seats and I plopped down at the table. Edward took a seat beside me and kept shooting smiles at me. "I'm trying to be supportive of you in your drunkenness right now, but at the same time I'm trying to not be as drunk. So please try to behave."

He was staring at my dress again.

I frowned.

"What?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Did she just ask him if she can go to the bathroom?" Rose asked. "Are you his slave or something? Is this a sex thing? Because I would be interested if it were."

"No, it's not a sex thing I just really have to pee," I said, looking to Edward and batting my eyelashes.

"I don't care, Bella," he said with a laugh. "Go powder yourself."

"What?" Rose asked, confused.

He looked at her and shook his head.

Rose stood up then and eyed me. "Come on, I'll walk with you."

"I don't need your help finding the bathroom, Rosalina."

"I'm sure you don't, Bella." She assured me. "Pulling your underwear up is a different story."

I rolled my eyes and stood up from the table. "Come on, Rosseey cheeks."

She laced her arm with mine. "Let's go."

She walked me to the bathroom and I stopped once inside, holding my arms around dramatically as I looked around. "I don't think this is the bathroom, Rose"

The walls were a bright red, a sofa sitting in front of us as we first walked in. I debated sitting on it and just taking a nap rather than going pee.

"You're right," she squinted her eyes to the end of the room. "Is that a toilet back there?"

I nodded. "It looks… gold?"

She laughed. "I think you're right. Um… I'm just going to sit on the divan and watch you."

"Thanks that will help me get this over with."

I hurried up to the golden thrown and did my business, with very little help from Rose. After I washed my hands I smiled at her. "I think that was a successful trip."

"Good job, Bella," she teased, pinching my cheeks.

I slapped her hand away. "Evil."

We walked back to the table and I found a variety of beverages in my spot. "What's this?"

"Coffee, diet coke, and tea," Edward said. "I couldn't be sure."

I looked up and caught him staring at my dress again, and I let out a cough.

He looked away.

I rolled my eyes and picked the obvious coffee. I took a drink and panted like a dog.

Soon after Esme and Carlisle arrived, Jasper showed up. He gave me shit about being drunk, but almost immediately gave up when he saw Edward falling asleep at the table.

By the time lunch had ended Edward seemed drunker than he was before. After several arguments about driving home, Jasper took us back to the house and Edward and I retreated to his room. The last thing I remembered was falling face first on his bed.

When I opened my eyes I was instantly forced to look away, the bright florescent light pierced through my eyes like sharp needles. When I finally mustered up the energy, I peeped through squinted lids to see Carlisle and Esme staring at us.

Trying to hide from my embarrassment, I covered my face with the comforter. We had slept in the same bed since before I could remember, however knowing that they were fully aware of our current relationship status made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Edward," I blinked.

"Hmm?"

"We have to get up," I kicked my feet behind me to hit his legs.

"Eh-uh," he argued.

"Edward," I repeated.

"Huh?"

"Your parents are staring at us," I whispered, sounding slightly terrified.

He took an aggravated breath and moved his head up to see Carlisle and Esme looking at us. He blinked a few times and threw his head against the pillow.

"Don't look so disappointed to see me, son," Esme said with a laugh. "Are you both aware that you have cheese on your faces."

"I had a big lunch," I said defensively. "And Edward just likes cheese."

"Well you guys aren't missing out on cake tonight. It's not every day my twins turn twenty, so make sure you guy are downstairs."

"Okay," I promised.

Carlisle shook his head, walking forward to hold his hands out. "Dinner is in fifteen," I opened my hand and he dropped some medication in my palm. "Why don't you both get ready? And try to refrain from the alcoholic beverages beforehand."

"Oh, Carlisle, leave her alone. Like you have any room to speak."

"What? I have to play my role as a father figure," he whispered, though we both could hear.

"I think they realized you suck at that role when you took my son out and got him drunk," I heard her say as the exited the room, shutting the lights off. "I mean really? Scotch Carlisle, you complained that I gave her mimosa and you're hauling Edward around town with scotch…"

Their voices disappeared as they walked down the hallway.

I heard a muffled groan from the person next to me and I peeped over at him, trying to make out what he was doing. "Where's my phone? Better yet, where is my purse? Or my dress…"

"You changed right before we fell asleep, remember?"

I shook my head. "No… and my phone?"

"On the dresser."

I threw the cover off of me, stood up angrily, and trudge over to the dresser. I turned a lamp on and grabbed my phone.

I ran back over and threw the cover over my head.

"I can't believe you survived," he said, his voice dry with humor.

"It was terrifying," I mumbled. I moved my hands under the cover and found Edwards. I opened his palm and set a pill that Carlisle gave me in his palm. "I think I'm going to die."

I felt my stomach churn violently.

"I hope this is a magic hangover pill, because if it's not I don't see myself getting out of this bed," he said, before popping it in his mouth.

I reached down and found two ice cold bottles of water. "Oh, Esme you're a saint," I whispered. I handed Edward a bottle and took a long chug from mine.

"Did we really get into a fight over that damn Pez Dispenser?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Edward," I shook my head, disappointed. "You broke it, it's over."

I checked my phone. "Dear god, we've been out for six hours."

"What?!" he sat up. "No."

I nodded. "Yes."

He sighed, laying back down. "Okay... I don't feel like moving."

"Can we just stay here?"

"I think so, but no."

"This is awful," I cringed, looking at him under the covers. He opened his eyes and blinked sympathetically.

"I know."

"We will never grow up, will we?"

"Probably not, no."

"Do you think we can just lay here for a minute? Something is going to happen soon, and I'm afraid if I move I'll speed up the process."

He nodded, pulling me close to him. I sighed and clutched onto his shoulders.

My head felt like a million hammers were hitting them at once. "I'm just going to cry on your shoulder for a minute."

"Okay, me too," he breathed in my neck. "You smell like sweat."

"You smell like scotch," I responded.

"I love you," I felt his lips against my hair.

"I love you more."

"Impossible," he ran his hands through my hair.

I looked through my eyelashes and sighed. "I tell you what, you carry me down the stairs; I'll push you into the kitchen."

"No deal," he shook his head. "I'm not moving."

"You have to," I sighed. "You promised Esme."

I waited for him to respond. I flipped my fingers on his lip, making a popping noise. He sighed. "Okay, get my pants."

I reached over the edge of the bed and spotted his pants. I threw them over his face and he snored.

He moved under the cover and slipped his jeans on.

He looked at me then. "Well, now it's your turn."

"Huh?" I asked. I yelped as he grabbed me by my legs and pulled me down the bed, throwing himself over me to capture me between his thighs.

"You got me up, so," he leaned down and captured my lips between his.

He picked me up then dragging me off the bed with him. "Oh my god I was kidding about that, Edward! I'm going to throw up all over you."

"I hope not."

"You're going to drop me," I whined. "Let me down."

"Ah, no," he said, before walking out of room with me hanging by his shoulder.

I sighed, slumping my shoulders. "I'm wearing cotton shorts and a wife beater, Alice will murder me. She was looking forward to me wearing that dress all morning."

"I'll say I ripped it off of you."

"She won't believe you. She knows we don't have sex."

"I'll say we started having sex."

I cackled. "I'm sure she'll buy it."

He set me down as we reached the bottom of the steps.

I moved behind Edward out of fear when I caught Alice glaring at me.

"We started having sex, I ripped her dress, it's destroyed," Edward said, walking over to fridge.

"That's the biggest lie I've heard in my life," Alice frowned. "You could have at least wiped the cheese off your face."

"Oh yeah," I whispered, rubbing dried cheese off my face.

I walked into the dining room and found Esme serving food around the table. I sat next to Emmett and took a gulp from his glass.

"Gross," he said. "Really Bella? I can't get rid of contaminated water."

"You can drink it," I suggested, picking up my fork.

"You're a slob."

"I know," I said with a sigh.

Everyone took their seats and Esme set down, and made a 'toast' of sorts to Edward and Alice.

Once we all clinked our glasses Esme smiled at us. "So what's this I heard about you having sex? It's about time, are you being safe?"

I felt water shooting out of my nose and all over my shirt. I looked over to Edward and saw he was laughing behind his hand.

"Mom…" he shook his head.

I felt a wave of nausea and I bucked out of my seat. "Gotta go!" I cried through my hand.

"Bella," I heard a knock on the door. I turned around to see Alice walking in.

"I'm puking," I informed her. "And I'm not wearing a shirt."

She nodded, pulling my hair away from my neck. I felt another violent wave of fluid rising and I cringed.

I shut the lid and tried to steady my breath, feeling an intense pressure on my temple. I flushed and sat against the lid. I watched as she pulled out a bottle of Pepto tablets and handed one to me. "Here."

"Thanks," I said, forcing myself to eat it.

"Yeah," she said.

She sat against the counter and I grabbed a glass from the counter and filled it with water, chugging it. "I'm sorry I didn't wear your dress."

She shook her head. "No it's okay… I'm glad you wore it all."

I looked at her and frowned.

"Alice what's going on with you lately?" I asked. "You've been so moody, last night you barely said a word and all of today you were acting strange."

She looked and me and blinked.

"Alice, what?!"

"_I've been acting weird_," she said with a snort. "This whole time you've been acting weird; the drinking, the unusually reserved texts, wanting to spend more time at home. If I didn't know the truth I'd be a little concerned with your wellbeing. You really want to know what's wrong with me Bella?"

"Yes," I exasperated. "I really do."

"How about this, you're moving to Seattle and had absolutely no intention of telling me about it?" she said in a low whisper.

I froze.

_**Part two will be posted soon!**_

* * *

**AN: I know right? Who the fuck does cliffhangers anymore. I do apparently. I promise everything will be explained, but I'd love to hear your thoughts regardless. I'll post part 2 early, probably either tomorrow night or Saturday morning. But for now...?**

**This chapter was a little all over the place at times, but I couldn't really bring myself to edit it to perfection if you know what I mean.**


	8. The One on June 20th Part 2

**The One on June 20th**

**Part 2 of 2**

**3 Months Ago**

"_I can't believe we're doing this," I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "This is insane."_

"_You're telling me," he snorted, pushing his glasses on his forehead._

_I loved when he put his glasses on. They were simple glasses really, oval with a thick black rim. When he put them on his face went from sexy to ohmyfuckinggod. Just like that, it turned me on. I watched as he concentrated on the computer screen, staring at his jawline as it hardened occasionally._

_He grabbed his tea and took a long drink from it, then went back to typing. He looked over to me and I switched my eyes to the table. I picked up my pack of cigarettes pulled one out to lite it. _

_He typed and I bit my nails nervously as I waited for him to finish._

"_Okay… I'm done." He sighed pulling back, to look at me, his fingers hovering over the mouth. "Are you sure about this?"_

_I paused and thought for a moment. _

_If we left, we would leave behind our family. All of our friends, everyone we have ever really been close to would no longer be within our reach. Charlie, he would be left with Jasper. But Jasper wasn't going to be there forever, of course. At least I hoped not._

_And then who would Charlie have? I hoped, prayed, that he would somehow find someone who would keep him company other than his fishing buddies he saw time and time again. It was a complex situation._

_And then there's Alice._

_Alice would have her brother, my brother… _

_When we were younger we made plans to leave town as soon as we turned eighteen. That was thirteen years ago. Our senior year in High School I tried to get her to register for Washington University. When she said no, I automatically decided to stay behind with her life it was nothing._

_Edward, on the other hand, planned to go to a university. He had a whole plan about getting his Bachelors, acquiring a medical degree, going on to save people's lives. But he stayed behind too._

_I looked over to him, and saw his hands still hovering over the mouse._

_He fretted nervously, looking at me unsurely. I couldn't tell if he was looking at me because he didn't want to do this, or if he thought I didn't want to._

_He put his hand on my knee and waited for me to respond._

_And just like that, nothing mattered._

_I leaned forward and grabbed his hands. "I'm sure."_

_He turned to me, rubbing his thumb across my cheek. "This is a good thing, you know that right?"_

_I nodded sternly. "I know."_

_June 20__th__._

_Part 2 of 2_

"_How about this, you're moving to Seattle and had absolutely no intention of telling me about it?" she said in a low whisper._

_I froze._

I felt a sharp stab in my chest.

_She knows._

"How did you…"

"It doesn't matter."

"Alice," I said, crying. "I-I didn't want to stay anything to you yet. I wasn't sure when a good time was, or what I'm even doing-"

"Because you knew I'd stay regardless," she finished. "Just save it, Bella."

"I was hoping you would come with us, but I've tried already."

She nodded.

The silence between us was awful.

"And Edward?"

"It's just a few hours away Alice-"

"And Edward?" she repeated.

"Yes… Edward too."

She nodded. "Thanks for letting me know."

She laughed then. "Why didn't you tell me sooner Bella? I could have tried to make the summer a little better, tried to spend more time with you guys or make it worthwhile."

"Because that's what we were already trying to do, Alice!" I raised my voice, tears blurring my eyes. "I didn't want you to feel depressed all summer because we're moving, because that's exactly how it would be and you know it."

"So you guys lied to me?"

"To all of you," I corrected her. "And we were going to say something sooner rather than later, but we were just losing track of time and we had barely discussed it until a few weeks ago. When we requested to transfer it was out of a thought. No plan, we just thought of it. We weren't just going to come up to you guys and say 'hey guys, we're leaving and we have absolutely no plan thus far, so we'll get back to you when we figure something out'."

She looked away. "You still could've told us… you could've let me know."

"I would have let you know sooner, but I didn't realize how serious this was until a few weeks ago. We requested a transfer, and we had no idea it would be so easy… and today is your birthday, and the cruise is next week and I feel like I'm losing time," I babbled. "I just didn't realize how… real this was."

She was quiet for a long time. I felt a sharp stab and cringed. _Stupid fucking migraine._

"So, you're going to Seattle?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I don't want to leave you guys here-,"

"No, you have every right to do what you want. And this is what Edward has always wanted. So it works out perfectly for you guys," she blinked a tear from the corner of her eye and wiped it as soon as it fell. "So… How long?"

"Beginning of September, if we're lucky enough to find a place."

"You're not staying in a dorm?"

"No, but Edward doesn't know that yet," I sighed, rubbing my head. "I requested that we get our own housing, and since we're from Washington we can."

"Wow…" she blinked.

"I know you're mad at me… and don't pretend that you're not. I would be mad at you."

"Thanks," she laughed. "I'm pissed, and I'm pissed for a lot of reasons."

"I didn't-" she interrupted me.

"But I can't be mad at you for doing something I never wanted to do… It's just that knowing you are leaving means all of our lives are going to change. I mean, I have spent my entire life stuck between you and your brother's ass cheeks. You leaving means that I have no one," she said with tears in her eyes.

I blinked tears. "Alice, you'll still have me. And Jasper, Emmett, Rose, Edward..."

_I'm so fucking selfish._

"Emmett and Rose are leaving soon too, you know that right? Emmett is almost done with college, Rose is a preschool teacher, teaching a class of 12 kids gets boring after a while. They're going to leave too."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. No one is going to stick around here forever, Bella. We all have to leave at some point. It's boring, I get it. But it's also home."

"It is…" I looked down, and wiped the tears off my cheek.

I felt her hand on my arm, wrapping it around my forearm. I turned to see she was frowning at me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to discourage you. I'm just going to miss you."

"I've spent everyday of my life with you Alice, and willingly might I add. Do you really think I want to have some sort of distance between us? I fucking love you, you're my sister. I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You don't have anything to worry about Bella," she pinched my cheek and smiled at me. "You're going to be just fine without me… well, maybe you could use a new wardrobe, or some touch-up on your roots. But other than that you're going to be just fine."

I laughed. "Typical, Alice. I'll keep my wardrobe up-to-date."

"Good," she warned. "You'd better."

I nodded. "Um… Will you please do something for me?"

"I'd jump in front of a bus for you," she said with a laugh. "What do you want bitch?"

I laughed, wiping the tears from my eyes. "I know I'm asking a huge favor, because I've spent my entire life trying to make this work. But will you try keep Jasper and Charlie alive?"

She looked stared at me and nodded. "I'll always be there for them, Bella."

"Thank you," I whispered. "Can I hug and kiss you?"

"You can't kiss me, there's vomit on your mouth," she looked at my sad expression and laughed. "Jesus, come here."

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her. She pulled me close and cried on my shoulder. "Oh my god… you have to call me everyday."

"Of course I will," I promised.

"Twice a day."

"Three times a day," I added.

"And send me pictures of your breakfast," she laughed. "And what you're wearing."

I nodded. "Of course I will."

She pulled back and wiped her eyes. She pulled a roll of toilet paper and wrapped it around her hand to blow her nose. I took it from her and wiped her eyes.

She busted out laughing, and took her snot rag back.

"I love you," I told her. "Forever."

"Always, no matter what." She smiled, then frowned. "This is awful."

I nodded, crying again. "I know," I cried. "What if I get lost? What if some poor asshole tries to hit on me, what do I do then?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, you're screwed. Edward will be too busy playing Candy Crush on his phone."

I busted out laughing, throwing my head into the sink to avoid puking.

"It will be okay," she said, running her hands through my hair. "He'll protect you, he always has."

I nodded.

He will, of course he will.

"Maybe one day I'll catch up with you…" she sighed. "But I'm just… not ready."

"You think I'm ready, Alice?" I guffawed. "This is a shot at the dark. I wear dirty socks, on a regular basis. My shopping list contains of deodorant and Cheetos-only deodorant and Cheetos, and I've been using my dad's shampoo for the last three years of my life. Today I showed up at your guys's birthday lunch, drunk off my ass, and fought my boyfriend over a Pez Despenser I haven't seen in years. I can't even cook eggs right, do you really think I'm ready for adulthood?"

She laughed. "Actually, I do. I have a good feeling about this. About you. And Edward… he's the most organized person I've ever met. And he has ten times better hygiene than you, no offense. He'll wash your dirty socks, and make sure you use the right shampoo. Because it seems like for whatever you lack, he makes up for, and the other way around… you guys are perfect for each other, you'll make it through anything."

"I hope so," I sighed.

"You will," she promised. "You've always been the kind of girl to step up to the plate. When we were all cowards, you always took a step to lead us into the right direction. And here you are, marching into adulthood like you have nothing to fear."

"If you mean that time that I confessed that I knocked over moms vase when it was actually you, then yes I do step up to the plate," I smiled and thought for a moment. "Um… So how did you figure out that I'm going to Seattle?"

She sighed, dusting off her pants as if there was actually something on them. I never saw a spec of dust on her pants… so my conclusion was, she just had pant-dusting issues. "I was looking for what size underwear to get you, and wah-la."

I paused. "You went into my underwear drawer?"

"Yes, and I was extremely disappointed by the contents other than the letter. I was expecting something black and lacey, and I only found granny panties and a wal-mart version of a sports bra."

I glared. "You're a fucking bitch."

"Get better underwear Bella; you're 19, not a 73 year old woman who has no intention of getting laid again."

* * *

**AN: So there ya have it. Bella and Edward are leaving their families to move to Seattle to go to school and start their lives together.**


	9. It's all a Game

Note: No copyright intended. I own nothing, nor any of the characters in this story.

_It's all in the Game_

_All strange and terrible events are welcome, but comforts we despise. –Cleopatra_

* * *

**Jasper**

_**Tuesday Morning**_

I ran my hands against my cheek, feeling the stubble across my skin. I felt like a 40 year old man rather than the 22 year old child I really was. I needed a haircut too, it was grown out nearly to my shoulders. I grumbled lazily and tore my eyes away from my reflection.

"I can do that for you," I heard the girl beside me say. "You know… if you don't mind."

I pulled back to look at her. She was sitting on the edge of the sink, a tooth brush dangling from her mouth. I watched her carefully, teasingly. She cocked an eyebrow impatiently.

"Have you shaven someone before?" I asked amusedly.

She shook her head, eyes glistening as they'd done so many times before over her curiosity.

I laughed internally.

She always looked so goddamned curious. It was something I always found admirable about her; how she looked at something as if it were an opportunity rather than a burden. Be that as it may, Alice was a bit of a lunatic in her ways of 'looking on the bright side' of things. As if every opportunity weren't a burden, there's always a positive aspect of every situation.

Drove me fucking nuts.

"It's not exactly easy," I said as I splashed water against my face. I filled my hand with shaving gel and rubbed it evenly against the stubble.

I cleaned my hand, and held the razor out to her. "I'm trusting you."

"Thanks," she said in a whisper. I watched as she placed the razor, carefully, against my skin.

"Other way," I warned her.

She nodded, and quickly turned it. Slowly she moved it against the skin. I watched her as she focused on the placement on the razor, carefully applying pressure and easing against it as she reached my jaw.

"You're doing fine," I reassured her. "Keep going."

She blinked, dipping the razor in the sink. She splashed it against the water and dried it against the sink, bringing it back to my face. "Turn a little, to your left."

I turned my face slightly, feeling her fingers graze against my cheek. She ran it along my neck until the stubble ended, and created a pattern along the area. I felt the fingers against my cheek press a little more and I turned back to her.

I tried to avoid the feeling she gave me when she placed her hands against my face.

She started moving it along my chin, focusing harder because she didn't want to accidently cut me. She was so cautious sometimes, it amazed me. I watched her eyelashes as she blinked every 15 seconds or so to move to another area.

I looked her over again and smirked slightly.

She wasn't wearing any makeup this morning, her hair was tangled into a ponytail. She wore a fitted purple tee shirt and a pair of Bella's pajama pants. Her skin, without a single ounce of make-up was clear and porcelain like. I would touch her cheeks occasionally just to see if they were as soft as they looked; and they always were.

She had grown her hair out, and it now met past her shoulders. I'd never seen her with long hair my entire life, she kept it short until we were seventeen. Now, her hair was pulled into a sloppy bun, looking still soft and shiny.

She moved the razor back to the sink, and caught my gaze. "What?"

I blinked and shook my head. _Shit. Think of something before she runs away from you for being a freak. _"Nothing. You learn fast."

A small smile played against the edges of her lips, but soon faded when she moved back to my face. She moved her right hand to my shoulder to steady herself as she moved to the other side of my face. I watched as her lips pursed together as she concentrated.

I had thought about her lips excessively, especially in these past two years of my life. I often tried to shut out these thoughts of strange desire out of my mind, and wound up successful, but it was almost impossible when the person I was thinking about was almost always within nearly ten feet of me.

I considered just grabbing her and kissing her, knowing it would scare her off for good. I would relish the moments I had to press her soft lips against mine, knowing it wouldn't last but for a moment. But I needed her entirely too much to live without, so I wouldn't dare. But then again, the desire test the limits with her felt overwhelming.

I just can't win with this girl, and she has no idea what I even meant by it.

The darker side of myself imagined that she wouldn't run away from me, although she knew it was wrong. Instead, she'd kiss me back with as much passion as I had intended in the first place.

The other side of myself, the person I wish I was more like, imagined her to stay away from me for her own good. This side of myself cared about her more than my unrealistic idea of a future I thought I'd have with her. It was a noble thought, but trying to keep her away from me was more impossible than so.

The bottom line is this; if she was smart she would have stayed away from me in the first place.

If I thought it was possible to keep her away from me, I would have done so years ago. I had tried on numerous occasions and failed; since I was 12 and my mother told me I would never be as happy as normal kids. I told her I wasn't any good for her, that I would only cause her more pain and disappointment then I am worth… she simply wouldn't listen.

I couldn't bring myself to fight her anymore, we were getting too old to waste time and I was done with fighting against her. She… she's person who pretends to care less than I do and was just as delusional about the subject as I was.

Maybe one day she'll realize I'm not at all good for her, she'll come to her senses and stay far away from me. Maybe one day… just not today. I hoped not.

It was entirely intoxicating once the subject entered my mind time-and-time again. It was a virus that infected my brain and took over my body in a matter of seconds, making me act like a moron. I was stupid to call it love, and I was too absent-minded to realize that were what it was.

I looked at her and smiled again, seeming to forget about all of my problems for ten seconds as I watched her.

_I am a moron._

She rubbed the towel against my face, wiping off any excess foam from my skin. "Not bad for a virgin."

I looked in the mirror, rubbing my face. I pulled back and smirk at her. "I would have never guessed that was your first time."

She hopped off of the counter and pinched my cheek. "It's smooth."

"Thank you," I said. "I wasn't looking forward to doing that at all."

She smiled back and looked away, driving me nuts as she usually did when she smiled. I stood up, grabbed my wallet from the counter, and walked out of the room.

**Bella**

_**Tuesday Afternoon**_

"Edward come on, it's luggage, why does it have to be a big commitment to you? Should I find out the manufacturers phone number and have a conversation with the head of the corporation's wife for you to just pick out a fucking bag already!"

He ignored me, picking up another suitcase. "Mom told me her bag had to be some brand, and it had to be a something by 36 inch."

I rolled my eyes. "She was kidding, you kiss-ass."

"No she wasn't," he shook his head. "She was being totally serious."

I rolled my eyes, and pulled his face over to look at me. "I promise you, she was joking. If you get in trouble, honey, just blame it on me."

He shook his head. "God I love it when you talk dirty to me."

"I wasn't talking dirty," I flicked his ear.

"Owe," he pulled back, covering his ear. "That hurt. You bi-"

I gasped, my mouth gaping wide open and my eyes glaring. "You motherfucker," I said, trying not to laugh. "You were going to call me a bitch."

He stepped back, looking at me like I was crazy. "Calm down, Bella. No. I wasn't going to call you a bitch."

I hit his shoulder. "Yes you were."

I pulled back, and he grabbed me by my shoulder. "Okay yeah, I was. But in a nice way."

I threw my head back and cackled. "You gonna act like a bitch, talk like a bitch, you are a bitch."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Did Jasper get you high?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

He looked at me again, glaring slightly.

"Okay, I'm a little high. But in a nice way," I smiled through a sorry frown, and he suddenly smiled back to me.

"You haven't smoked in, fuck I mean like… two years. Why did you suddenly decide to get high this morning?"

I shook my head. "Jasper was having a really weird time this morning, and he said that he needed to talk to me about something important. So when I came in, instead of talking, we just sat there. Then I pulled out his weed, and we just… I don't know. Got high, I guess."

He frowned. "Why was Jasper upset?"

"I don't know, that's my point. I was trying to figure it out, then I got a contact high, and then I really got high, and then I ate a family size bag of Cheetos and a jar of pickles; and Jasper just like sat there, chilled, and ate the rest of the food in the fridge."

His eyes narrowed, and then back at me. "Was Alice with you guys last night?"

I thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Did she sleep in Jaspers room?"

I thought hard, again, for another moment. I remember being drunk until somewhat around ten, then my ass hit the bed. And then I remembered seeing the two in the room, her sleeping on the bed and him on the couch, when I went to throw up.

I nodded. "Affirmative."

He thought for a second. "Do you think that they…?"

I furrowed my eyebrows questioningly. My face softened as I realized what he was saying. "Oh… oh no. I doubt it."

He shook his head then. "Something is going on with those two."

I laughed then. "Edward, are you stoned?"

"Bella, of course not, I don't just walk into luggage stores stoned off my ass; I'm not an animal," he hissed dramatically.

I snorted a loud laugh and saw a customer stop in their tracks to glare at me. I glared back, not giving a single fuck. She huffed, flipping her hair, and did her donkey walk back up the aisle.

I turned my head back to him and he was shaking his head. "What if we leave, and they hook up, and she ends up pregnant and dropping out of nursing school-and Jasper's wage will get deducted because he kept going to work high and can't-"

I cut him off. "Will you relax? They're going to be fine."

"I know… but still, I don't."

"I do," I said confirmatively. "By the way, Alice knows that we're leaving."

"What!" he said, louder than necessary. "How long has she known? Did you tell her? Was she upset?"

"Dude, you gotta slow your roll because I didn't hear one thing you just said," I shook my head. "She's perfectly fine with it… sort of."

I started staring at the tin of bouncy balls in the next aisle. There were so many colors, they looked so shiny in fun. I started to drift towards the aisle.

"Okay, I'll try to have this conversation with you later," he shook his head. "I mean Jesus, what did you smoke?"

"Edward, I'm high, not drunk. My emotional state is completely intact, so don't try to bruise my ego or anything," I said with a dramatic huff and an arm wave.

"I'm sending you to rehab," I heard him call after me. "A nice one too, on a reality TV show. Maybe you'll meet Charlie Sheen."

"I'm looking forward to it!" I called back.

I grabbed a ball, and threw it over the aisle back to him. "Bella, I'm trying to pick out a designer tote for my mother. Now will you stop being such a bitch and help me find the bag?!"

I laughed, and walked over to him. "Fine."

**Alice**

_**Wednesday Night**_

It's an awkward subject for me. _Love._

I gag a little thinking about it.

But then again, I don't think anyone like me ever understands the concept of love. We people who spend our nights at a guy's house, dressed in nothing other than a wrinkly oversized tee shirt and underwear, eating pizza off of their lap.

That's me, eating pizza off my lap with an oversized shirt on, stuffing my face and getting pizza sauce everywhere.

I don't care though, I just keep watching the movie, like a toddler who has no concept of what making a mess is. Jaspers doing the same though, because he's high and his favorite actress is Jennifer Lawrence.

We eat and we smoke, and then an hour later we'll change the movie and eat more. It's routine for us, and it hasn't even phased us how much we could care less.

Even Bella looks at us like we're crazy, but she didn't have room to speak since she spent most of her nights staring into my brother's eyes and making puke faces as they touch each other- and not even _touch _each other, just do this weird caress thing.

It's fucking weird.

But whatever, like I said, here I am eating pizza with no pants on watching movies with Jasper and making his room a mess like I did every night since the 9th grade. Only now I'm an "adult"; I have a year of college left, own a car, and have to pay taxes. That makes me an adult right?

Jasper had his own thing too, although no traditional. He has hobbies, nothing he considers a career. Like playing the guitar, and singing. He's also artistic, another aspect about him that he was incredible at. But he tries not to be open about it. One time I walked into his room and I caught him playing, and he just smiled and continued to sing. It was a rare moment.

He had an intense look about him, anyway you put it. It was in his eyes, how they always seemed so focused but _so _distant at the same time. Maybe he was like me, always getting so caught up in his own thoughts that he couldn't catch a glimpse of the world.

It was scary, how we both could be so forgetful but sentimental.

I started to doze off somewhere into the third movie, and I felt Jasper lay beside me and relax too. It was normal for us, this closeness that we had grown accustomed to. I relaxed into him, and he wrapped an arm around my torso as his breathing started to regulate.

Soon sleep took over us, and we slept throughout the night and most of the morning. When I woke up, I felt hot and sweaty. I pushed him away from me, and rubbed my tired eyes.

The impact of the smoke from last night took onto my throat, and I felt heavy. I stumbled up and walked out of the bedroom to go to the kitchen. I found Charlie sitting at his normal spot at the buffet in the kitchen and I smiled at him.

"Hey Hun," he said, pushing a cup towards me. "Happy Thursday."

I took it from him and filled it up with coffee. Not feeling like putting any creamers or anything in it, I took a big gulp of the warm beverage and looked over at Charlie.

"I can't believe it's Thursday already. I didn't see Bella up there," I began. "Is she here?"

He shook his head. "She took off with Ed, said they went to get milk or something like that."

I nodded.

"Which, we have two gallons of milk, so I think she was just full of shit," Charlie said with a grumble.

I laughed, patting his shoulder. "I'm sure her intentions were to get something, Charlie."

He shook his head. "You know she's my girl, I have to know where she's going at all times."

_Well, that's not going to be possible after the summer. _I thought with a sigh.

"She's a good girl Charlie, she's responsible and safe…" he looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Most of the time. So stop worrying so much."

Maybe Bella leaving really was for the best. Her father is the chief of police, and despite his extremely lenient behavior towards Jasper; he was just as extremely _strict _towards his younger child, who was more responsible than any of us-despite some minor things she did as a teenager. He was hovering her, completely, and not giving her room to breathe.

I have a theory about Charlie, however unorthodox, that may be why he hovers her. I think he felt like he had already messed up Jasper, who couldn't hold down a job without having an anxiety attack; so he might as well do the best he can with her and let Jasper do whatever.

Of course there's a lot of holes in this theory, but it was the best that I could come up with for such an odd situation.

I found Jasper upstairs, awake, and smoking a cigarette in his bedroom. I handed him a cup of coffee and he took a sip from it.

"Do you have to work today?"

He shook his head. "You?"

I shook my head. "No."

He nodded. "So what are you doing?"

"I think I'm going to go home and start packing," I tilted my head to the side. "Have you even started packing yet?"

He pursed his lips in a straight line, and shook his head. I rolled my eyes. I walked into the next room, searching for something. I returned with one of Bella's suitcases.

"We're leaving early tomorrow, I'll be by tonight to help you pack."

"You don't have to take care of me, hun…"

I walked over to his nightstand, grabbed a few things, and put them away. I picked up the laudry and threw it into a hamper by the door. "Use this hamper from now on."

"Okay babe."

"And don't just throw anything in there; make sure you check your pockets."

"Of course, dear."

I stopped, realizing what he was saying. I turned back to him. "I'll be back later," I said awkwardly. I fled from the room, took off down the stairs, and out to my car.

**Jasper**

_**Thursday Afternoon**_

If only she weren't so embarrassed to see the smug look on my face after I'd respond to her about hassling me. It was fun on my part, mostly because I could get a rise out of her and make her fluster the way she did. I'm not sure why she reacted the way she did, but I found it more enjoyable and entertaining than I felt sorry for my words.

I spent the rest of my afternoon cleaning my room, with Bella by my side redirecting every single one of my actions. I considered just knocking her out at one point, but I held it in and she ended up cleaning my room anyway.

I guess with Edward not up her ass, she's gotta be up somebody else's. I didn't mind though, after a while.

"Is this pizza sauce?" she asked, looking at the carpet.

She looked up at me and I nodded guiltily. It was a weird night.

Around 3, Jacob came over to bring me a couple of eighths, and as usual he was oh-so happy to see Bella. She was nice to him, like always, but at a distance. Bella was smart, and she knew exactly the distance she needed between a person.

I, on the other hand, was just here to get high.

We ended up sitting down and smoking a couple of joints, and I even got Bella to relax again. She smoked with me yesterday morning too, so I figured she wouldn't care if she got high again.

Once Jake left, Bella and I ended up back in the kitchen with a box of pop-tarts and a gallon of chocolate milk. "I can't believe dad got chocolate milk," I said, pouring it into a tumbler.

She took the gallon from me and took a swig. "I can't believe he got peanut butter pop-tarts. Did you put it on the list?"

I shook my head. "No, I think he just buys pop-tarts in bulk because of your obsession with them."

She shrugged, eating an entire half of one in two bites. How she hadn't gain a single pound this year is beyond me. At one point I thought she was bulimic, but then I realized she was just more active than most of us and anything she ate went right through her.

She even got Edward to run with her most mornings; when they weren't together and he was more of an alcoholic than a living man. Now I think they don't do anything, just sit there and eat.

Before she could finish eating, Edward burrowed inside through the back door. He looked sweaty and stressed out. I thought about offering him some weed, but when I saw the look on his face I quickly changed my mind.

"So bro," I began. "What's up?"

"None of you fuckers can answer a phone call, or a text message," he said, out of breath.

We stared, waiting for him to go on.

"It's Alice," he said, shaking his head.

In that moment, I felt as if a million little needles we're piercing through my heart and my breathing stopped.

"She was in a car accident."

* * *

**AN: Btw, there's a review button. :) Don't worry, I wouldn't take my lack of reviews out on you readers. Although I can feel the heat from this one already. As I said before, the story was already written by me a while ago; I just edit it and add to it. ****To answer a few questions before you can ask: Bella is 19. Alice and Edward are 19. Jasper is 22. Rose and Emmett are in their mid-twenties (one of the reasons we don't read a whole lot of them in this story, but you will eventually). **

**Yes, I know Edward comes off as a baby sometimes-maybe I'm just being biased, I dunno, I love him-I do. But it's just fun to think of him not-so-macho.**

**Other than that, are there any other question?**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN:** Hey guys. Now I am posting this two at a time, because I didn't want it to be so depressing. These next two chapters do contain violence. Though I doubt the people who have read this far really give a fuck, but hey, I'm just warning ya. I wrote a summary of the chapter at the bottom, however, I do encourage you to read this chapter so you'll gain a better understanding of what happens in further chapters. So **WARNING.**

But, I digress, that is up to you.

Just so you know, **I'm not a doctor**. So if some things are completely inaccurate; I got my information through Google. Lol

* * *

**I could feel a hot one taking me down  
For a moment, I could feel the force  
Fainted to the point of tears  
And you were holding on to make a point  
What's the point? -**

**I Can Feel a Hot One by Manchester Orchestra**

* * *

**Alice**

I'm not dying.

_Yes, you are. Quit lying to yourself._

No, I'm not.

_Yes, you are. Just let go, Alice. All you need to do is let go._

I can feel the heaviness on my chest, the warm blood as it trickles down my forehead. I try to open my eyes, but I seem to have forgotten how to. I feel something tugging on me, but I don't comprehend much else. All I can hear is this high pitch buzzing noise ringing throughout my ear.

It kept replaying in my mind.

I can feel myself laying back, and my head swings back. When my head falls back, I see my dad is holding me. I only see him for a second; I can't keep my eyes open. Wet drops of something hit my neck.

My head hurts. It hurts so badly, like there's a million little rocks inside of it; rattling with my jagged breath. I can feel my eyes rolling; flashes of light going in and out. I can't figure any of it out.

But all of that goes away as fast as I can respond, and everything goes black.

For a while, there's nothing. No thoughts, I'm not even moving.

I'm not dying.

_Yes, you are._

**Bella**

It's been 16 hours. 16 hours, and we know nothing.

All of our eyes are red from crying, and the only thing left to do is wait. Edward is cussing, throwing things, and causing fights with strangers because he wants answers. I just shut my eyes and try to tune him out, but he makes it difficult for me when I feel his hands on either side of my face.

He's acting like a psycho and I just needed him to calm down for ten seconds.

After he paced the floor for another fifteen minutes, he pulled out his phone and suddenly he's _just fucking fine._

He apologized, kissed my eyelids, and sat across from me. Rose hugged him, and Emmett sat on the other side of him. "Calm down, bro. We'll find out what's going on soon."

Esme was keeping her shit together in the corner, occasionally turning her head to leak a tear. I sat by her, and tried to keep her calm but the hours we sat waiting were slowing and I could feel her tensing up more and more.

She looked up and smiled at me. "I think we just need to have a little hope."

I smiled back.

_You know, she's totally out of it; but sure, I'll go with it._

Esme fell asleep on my shoulder, and I passed out soon after. When I opened my eyes, I saw Carlisle standing in front of me and Esme. Everyone else stood around him, waiting for him to say something.

He took a seat next to Esme, and she scooted back to look at him.

"Alice has suffered severe head trauma from the accident. We think that her head may have hit the windshield with force. The police estimated that the other car was going something around 90 miles per hour. She has a few fractures, but the most damage we found was from her CT scan," he said, rubbing his eyes. "She's under special care right now."

"What kind of damage?" I asked.

"She suffered a minor cerebral hemorrhage, it's subdural. It's more common among elderly people. Essentially it's just a small tear in her blood vessel in her brain, but it can be triggered by a lot of things. In her case, it was the impact of her head on the windshield. She's going to be… okay, but constant supervision over the next 6 months is imperative. She isn't awake, and usually with trauma such as this you won't expect someone to wake up right away."

My eyes welled with tears, my head feeling light and my body still.

"Aren't cerebral hemorrhages fatal?" Jasper asked.

"Subdural; rarely, but possible. It's been known to cause seizures-it's how we caught it in the first place. She may suffer severe headaches for a long time-in most cases it happens the rest of their lives. She may have trouble walking, or remembering how to do things we do in our everyday life. Or it could have little-to-know affect at all. It's been known to cause anxiety and depression, but the memory loss is most common; and it could happen at any given time."

"Is there a way to stop it? To treat it?"

"We're not sure that surgery _won't_ be necessary because the blood vessel was minor, and by now it could have-"

"Why don't you know?" Jasper interrupted.

"Because we can't make these kinds of decisions until we see how she's doing when she wakes up. It sounds a little ridiculous to you, I understand, but it's how we evaluate how much of an impact the condition has on her. If she seems can't move, talk, see…"

"Then you won't know how severe it is," I concluded.

He nodded. "People have reactions from it in various ways; and I would be lying to you if I said I didn't think she wasn't going to suffer from it. You guys are going to play a big role in this when she wakes up; but for now I need you to go home and get some rest. I'll let you know when I need you, but for now you should get some sleep."

"How long until she wakes up?" Emmett asked.

He shook his head. "It could be an hour from now, a day, sometimes a week. I'm sorry kids, I have to go. I'll let you know when she wakes up-I promise."

He leaned down to Esme, whispering something into his wife's ear. After twenty or so seconds, she gave a small smile and blinked a tear. She kissed him and he held his hand against her face.

I felt a hand envelope mine and I turned to see Edward. "I'm sorry."

I nodded, blinking away a tear. "Just don't do that again… I need you to be here with me, not everywhere else."

He seemed to calm down, and I assumed that Carlisle must have told him something that may have answered all of his questions. That or the sketchy moment when he pulled out his cellphone; I just don't know.

He held my hand up to place a kiss against it. "I promise. I just got so scared of not getting answers."

"I know, but you can't help that Edward."

"I know," he said finally.

I fell silent as he held my hand. After a few moments he spoke. "Will you do me a favor and feed Jaeger? I have a few things I need to do before I go home."

I nodded, and kissed his cheek before I left.

**Jasper**

Bella offered to give me a ride home, but I had my own car and other intentions. When I got out of the hospital, everyone else went their own way and I pulled out my phone.

After the first ring he picked up. _"What, kid?"_

"Who was it Charlie?"

I heard him grumble through the phone. Something about his stupid kids and rash decisions. _"Why do you need to know? So I can let you kill him? I don't think so."_

"I wouldn't do anything you wouldn't do."

"_And that's exactly why I'm not giving you the name."_

"Then why are you still on the phone with me? I mean, I'm surprised you haven't killed him already, Charlie, you act like she's your daughter. I believe I have a right to know the name of the man involved in the car accident _chief._"

"_I have a right to withhold information if I know that your intentions are to harm him."_

"Just answer this for me, dad. Was he injured?"

Silence.

"That's what I thought."

I ended the call and burrowed back into the hospital. I brushed past several nurses as I marched down the hall and to the elevator. I knew I had to be fast, Charlie was smarter than I was and I knew he would already be calling security to stop me by now.

I made it back to the third floor, and I waited until the station was left empty. I quickly opened up the unsecured computer and scrolled through a list of patients until I found Alice's name, and a name above hers with a room number.

_Newton. 303._

I backed out of the station, suddenly furious. I stalked out of the room and followed the rooms towards 303. I looked at the door, my anger fueling as I got closer.

I felt myself being yanked back roughly. Before I had a chance to react, my back was slammed against the wall. "What do you think you're doing, Jazz? You were really going to come up here and pull this shit?!"

I opened my eyes and saw Edward hovering me. "Get off of me," I threw my arms out, pushing him back. He stumbled, but quickly retaliated and snagged the collar of my shirt.

I tried to throw him back, only landing myself back against the wall. I struggled against him, the force of his arm against my chest making it more difficult for me. I twisted my arm around to push him in the chest, which he quickly grabbed my wrist and struggled against me to hold it in place.

"Jasper, stop it. It was an accident, you're overreacting."

"Did you know it was Newton?" I asked through a grimace.

"It was an accident Jazz."

"You _knew_ it was him, and you didn't say anything? There's a chance that Alice won't walk again, talk; _live. The_ person responsible for taking that from her is in the next room, and it hasn't even phased you."

He flinched, then shook his head. "You don't understand."

"Then somebody fucking explain."

He sighed, and shut his eyes; shaking his head.

"He's could die, Jasper," I stared, waiting for him to go on. "Carlisle told me. He needed to find out his parents phone number. It happened right by the house, Carlisle saw everything. He didn't have a driver's license on him, he had no form of verification; not even insurance. He's already in big trouble, Jasper, and he's just as busted up as Alice is. Charlie told him that his brakes must have stopped working, and his foot slammed against the gas pedal when he tried to hit the emergency break-"

"That fucking dumbass."

"I agree," he said, nodding. "But can we please not make him any worse and calm the fuck down."

I lowered my arms. "He's dying?"

He nodded. "He lost a lot of blood."

I felt like shit then.

_You we're just about to go in there and beat the shit out of him, you piece of shit._

_I know. Maybe that's why I felt like shit. The car got him before I could._

He pulled back slightly. "Why don't we try to find Alice's room?"

"We can't get in there without-"

He held his hand up. "I have an idea, but you'll need to calm down and trust me."

I adjusted my twisted shirt that, ruffled around, from Edward throwing me everywhere. "What do you have in mind?"

**Edward**

Maybe my distraction technique was a little unorthodox, especially considering we were still breaking the rules either way you put it. It seemed better than Jasper beating someone who was already dying.

After a long phone conversation with Carlisle, as he cried and pleaded for me to stop trying to see her because he felt it wasn't right, he finally gave in if it meant that Jasper would calm down. Making it seem like it was the only ultimatum was the best I could do, and he finally let it go.

He found us by the elevator.

"You know I don't want to do this," Carlisle said to Jasper. "But you've clearly given me no choice."

Jasper glared back at him with the same intense stare Carlisle was giving him. "Hey," I put my hand on Jasper to push him back. "Calm down, Jasper."

He looked down. "I'm sorry."

Carlisle ignored him, walked us back into the elevator and clicked the '5th floor' button. We stayed silent until the doors opened, revealing a long narrow hallway. "She's in an intensive care unit. We didn't shave her hair, although I had to put up a fight trying to save that. Lord knows that girl would care more about her hair being gone than anything else."

I couldn't help but laugh. It's true, if there was anything she would give a fuck about it's her hair.

He led us to the room that was rather displeasing to the ear. It sounded like a large factory; machines going and things beeping from all angles. Dad looked at me and nodded. "Welcome to my world."

"She's on a breathing machine as a precautionary measure, it's common," he warned. "If she wakes up, don't be loud."

"I thought you said she hasn't woken up-," Jasper said, as Carlisle led us to a door. He held his hand up for him to stop talking.

"She hasn't; not completely. She's been in and out, opening her eyes every so often but falling asleep," he sighed. "I didn't want you seeing her like this because she has some bruises and cuts on her, I think most of them are from her struggling against the impact. That, and there is no telling if she has another seizure."

I nodded. Jasper stayed silent.

"Okay," he pulled the door open.

We walked in and I found myself struggling against the urge to run up and hug her. At first all I saw was her form beneath the sheets, still and small. Her hand was visible, curled slightly. The room was dark, but I could see the dark purple round bruises on her skin from here.

Jasper, however, took a different route. He half-ran, making a b-line through the machines just to see her face. I followed behind, half worried that Jasper would try and wake her up, but stopping to looked at her.

The bruises, as Carlisle warned us, we're all around her face. The one that struck me most was on her eye, it was dark and purple. She had a large bandage around her head, covering most of her forehead that had stopped seeping blood.

I frowned and fought back the urge to cry. Or scream. Or throw a fucking hospital bed at someone's face.

I wouldn't done all of them if quietness wasn't an essential aspect of Alice's wellbeing.

After a few moments of silence, Jasper turned his head to my dad. "Can I stay here?"

Carlisle thought for a moment, and then nodded unsurely. "Don't make yourself too obvious. And remember what I said about her waking up; be quiet and calm."

He nodded.

I walked over to her, and leaned forward to. "Come back to us, Al."

**Jasper**

I stayed with her for hours, which soon turned to days. I would leave occasionally, only to come right back. I tried talking to her, but it all seemed so useless.

I felt like I did when mom was dying; on her last few days when hope was useless. She would wake up; look at me, frown, and fall back asleep.

Everything was fucking useless.

When Bella was finally able to come in and see her, I felt a little less uneasy. If there was any way around this, Bella would be the answer. I watched as she pulled several things from her bag, and sat down on the bed. She leaned into her, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Wake up, bitch."

I shook my laugh. "You have no filter, do you?"

She shook her head, keeping her eyes trained on Alice's sleeping face. "No, I'm just thinking of what she'd say to me if I we're pulling this shit." She held her hand and kissed it. "You better wake up soon, Alice."

Bella looked at her taught face and smiled through a frown. "You're still beautiful, you know that? So you better wake up and show your pretty eyes before I have to get in there and open them myself. Come on, Ally Baby. I miss you..."

Alice's eyes opened then, wider than I'd seen them in the past couple of days. She made a loud gasping sound, yanking the tube from her mouth. I stood up, walking over to her. She looked at me wide-eyed and panicky.

_Of course she would wake up when Bella walks in. _

"Alice," Bella said softly. "Can you hear me?"

Her eyes only widened even more, and she nodded. "Why are you whispering?" she said in a hoarse voice.

Bella's face broke into a teary eyed smile, and I did the same upon realization. "I just didn't want to hurt your little ears."

"Did you just say I have little ears?" she twisted her neck to look at me. "Um… I don't… I don't really remember anything… why am I here? Did I drink too much?"

I laughed then, covering it with a cough. "No."

"You were in a car accident, you don't remember?" Bella quizzed her.

Alice blinked, puzzled. She shook her head. "No… I don't remember. What day is it?"

Bella pulled her phone out. "Sunday, the 31st."

"Oh my god, the cruise!" she said, cringing. She put her palm to her temple and cringed roughly. She screamed shortly, and covered her mouth. "Owe!"

"Take it easy," I said, lowering her hand. "I'll be back, I'm going to get Carlisle."

I ran outside to find Carlisle. I found him at the nurse's station, stuffing his face as he looked at his stupid fucking clipboard. He looked at me expectantly. "She's up… her head is hurting. I thought you said she wouldn't feel it because of the medication?"

He grabbed his clipboard and walked past me, shaking his head.

"That's what I need to find out, maybe she needs a higher dose. I don't know."

"What are you suggesting? More morphine?" I asked. "The morphine you had on her already put her out for days; is she just going to live the rest of her life like this?"

He glared at me. "Jasper, stop asking me so many questions I don't know the answer to. Back off, and let me do my job."

I nodded then, realizing I was overstepping the line with him. I'd been backing down easily lately; which aggravated me more than it made me feel calm.

We reentered the room and Alice was sitting up, still clutching her head. She looked up at Carlisle, and blinked. "Dad."

"Honey, where is the pain?"

She pointed to her temple, and drew a line around a region of her head. "It feels like… a ton of bricks."

He nodded, striding out of the room. "I'll be right back."

He returned with several tubes and needles. A nurse was behind him, pleading him to let her do it herself. "I have to start a separate IV, I can do this a lot quicker Marie. No offense; she's my daughter and I'm wasting more time arguing with you than I am helping her."

Alice held her arm out and he quickly hooked up an IV. "You're going to feel nauseated," he looked at Bella. She nodded, and grabbed a bucket from the closet. Bella set the bucket in front of Alice quickly as Carlisle grabbed her arm. "If you feel a sudden temperature change in your arm, don't feel alarmed because it'll pass."

He quickly found a vein and stuck the needle into her arm. She hissed a few moments later, clutching onto her shoulder.

She leaned forward then, and took the bucket. She breathed deeply, and calmed her breathing. I sat beside her, my hand against her other shoulder. She pulled back then, blinking.

"Does it still hurt?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I can feel it, it's just not painful. What happened?"

Carlisle quickly explained to her about the car accident, and her hemorrhage. He got technical and explained why she felt the pressure in her head, and not the pain; and that it wasn't going to be easy to get past that initial pain. He said that had the hemorrhage actually happened any closer inside her brain it would have been fatal; and he would need to do several more CT scans to make sure nothing else has raptured in her brain.

I listened as he lied about Newton; saying that he had a few broken limbs after "the impact", and not that he had actually been thrown out the windshield for being a dumbass. Yeah, he'd be okay. Maybe.

We wouldn't know for a while; but if I found him alive I would definitely be having a talk with him.

After he evaluated her; she'd answer Carlisle's five hundred questions about her mental state to which she got bored with fast. He asked if she could move her legs. She moved them, curling her toes at first-but soon stood up cautiously. He protested, but she ignored him and stood up anyway; wobbly at first. She assured us that it was just the drugs, and she was fine. A smile broke out from his face, and he hugged her.

She smiled back.

She turned her head to me then, still smiling. "I'm okay, Jasper. You don't have to be upset."

"I know," I lied, nodding my head.

**Bella**

_Hello Bella Swan,_

_My name is Emily Hughes, I'm the advisor you spoke with last Monday. You've recently registered for classes with Washington University, and I would like to speak with you further to make sure that you have established where you are staying. You seemed a little unsure of your living situation the last time we spoke, and I just want to make sure you and your boyfriend have established where you're going to live before class starts._

_I cannot express this enough; you need to email someone back with an address or Washington will resend your application as "incomplete". We will need a mailing address other than the one in Forks, soon._

_It's important that you call me back so we can discuss this. _

_Thank you for your time,_

_Emily_

Delete.

* * *

**Summary:**

**Well this isn't the best summary, but essentially… Alice suffered severe trauma to the head from the accident, they aren't allowed to see her, and Jasper freaks out. Once the family leaves the hospital, he tries to find out who was in the other car, and after he hacks into the nurse's computers he finds out that it was Mike Newton. When he finds the room, his intentions are anything but good. He gets pulled back by Edward, and after the two fight; Edward reveals that Mike is already in critical condition, worse than Alice. When he sees that Jasper is even more upset, Edward talks Carlisle into letting them see Alice, making it seem like Jasper was making it a life threat to Mike Newton. Although Carlisle was angry, they see Alice is busted up and Jasper spends the next few days waiting for her to wake up. When Bella comes to see her (as Carlisle allows), Alice finally wakes up and suffers from a severe headache which Carlisle treats. Alice is able to stand up, and she smiles at Jasper.**

**Bella deletes an email from her advisor.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: This is another reason why I warned you about "violence".**

**Warning: This chapter contains short sections of violence. **

* * *

**Look me in the eye  
Then, tell me that I'm satisfied  
Were you satisfied?  
Look me in the eye  
Then, tell me that I'm satisfied  
Hey, are you satisfied?-**

**Unsatisfied by the Replacements**

* * *

**Bella**

The month that followed Alice's car accident was excruciating. She was constantly in some sort of pain; mostly headaches which she was heavily medicated for. This usually put her in a comatose state for a while, but she was never left alone for more than a few moments. Despite her protests, Jasper was almost always with her. The only time we saw him outside of her room was when he showered or got coffee. He didn't seem to mind it though, in fact I was sure he was enjoying lying in bed with her all day.

Sly bastard.

Occasionally I would walk in and find that he would be reading to her, and she'd be halfway asleep and snoring on his chest. It was cute, really. He got so into pleasing her sometimes, he forgot the rest of the world around him. I teased him about it, but he only glared at me and told me to "get the fuck away" from him. Crabby ass.

Alice, on the other hand, wasn't doing so well. She was angry, she wanted the summer to end and she wanted to be back in school; although Carlisle argued that she wouldn't be ready for that when the time came, regardless. She assured him that he was wrong; she could remember everything. She dared him to quiz her and take some test; but he refused to.

He agreed to let her go back the other night, so at least she won't be as... depressed.

Carlisle told us that Mike was going to be okay a few weeks later-after Alice was released from this hospital. Edward and I stopped in his room and talked with him, which was more upsetting for him than it was relieving. He cried to us that he felt so sorry for what had happened, and kept calling himself an idiot. He awful. Several of his limbs were heavily bandaged and bound in casts; a long scar along the side of his face.

"I'm so sorry," he cried.

He must have thought that I told them the truth about what Charlie had found in his car; several empty alcohol containers and weed. I didn't tell anyone other than Edward, who swore _me _to secrecy for Mike's sake. He knew that there were members of our families who wouldn't take this subject lightly, and those members could be found under "our brothers".

And almost always-with the exception of the night Alice was admitted from the hospital-they weren't just equally angry at someone; they were a _team. _Which, between the two of them you'd think they wouldn't have it in their hearts to hurt someone. Proved me wrong when I was fifteen and I saw Jazz and Emmett beat up some guy around their age. I later found out the guy was trying to get Jessica Stanley (who was my age) to try heroin in the bathroom.

My point being; Mike was lucky that the entire town hadn't found out about that one yet, our brother's especially.

The impact his head had on the windshield of the car was much less fatal than Alice's; his car was totaled, along with any aspect of Alice's.

So while all of this was happening, Edward and I were avoiding any subject about school.

I didn't even think about how much time I was losing. And leaving… it seemed just, out of the question. I kept getting emails and letters from the school telling me that I needed to talk with someone about an address to put on my record. Edward must have been on the same page, because he was getting the same notices I was, but quickly discarding them. We literally had a month and a half left before school and we were cutting everything too close, so naturally I avoided everything about topic.

All of these because unavoidable within hours of Monday night.

**Monday Night**

Charlie was waiting for me to respond, and I just shook my head.

He sat across from me, my letter of admission to Washington in his hands. At first he seemed proud, until I told him it wasn't going to happen anymore.

"Bella I know that at one point in time I was against this; but you have to go. You have the money, you're in good hands, and you need to start living your life the way you want to. Stop ignoring me, goddammit."

My best friend is losing her mind, she just got in serious car crash and now she's suffering from it. And he expects me to just… leave?

"I'm not going Charlie," I shook my head, and left the house.

That night I walked into Alice's room and found her crying.

"Alice, what's wrong?" I asked, walking over to her. She pushed herself away from me, crawling away from me.

"Bella, please… will everyone just stop? I'm f-fine… I feel like a newborn being coddled and I-I can't breathe!"

"Alice, we just want to make sure-"

"There is no making sure, if something happens to me it could be at any given time. And trust me when I say the worst that will happen to me is a severe headache."

"But right now-"

"Bella, just leave it alone. Please… leave me alone."

I pursed my lips, trying to think of something to say. I stood up and nodded. I left the room, left her by herself. I heard her sob, and I cringed as I shut the door.

"Bella, can I speak with you for a moment?" I looked up and saw Esme standing in the hallway.

I nodded and walked over to her, drying my eyes with my sleeve. She opened the door to her office, and pulled a chair out for me. "Sit down."

"Esme, I'm sorry-"

"No, you don't have anything to be sorry for. Just sit down."

"Okay," I sat down.

I watched as she took a seat in the chair across from me and crossed her arms.

"So, I wanted to ask you if you and Edward have found a place in Seattle. The school semester starts in a few weeks-"

"Esme, we're not going an-"

"Yes, you are!" she snapped, effectively shutting me up. "And I wish I would have found out earlier, perhaps by my son or daughter that you were leaving. We would have helped you prepare for this, but knowing weeks in advance has us in quit a bind."

"I don't like asking for help."

"Regardless, we deserve to know."

"I agree. We meant to tell you a long time ago-but Alice found out and then the accident happened. It doesn't matter, we're not going anymore."

"How are you not going to go, Bella?" she asked, and waited for me to respond. "You've already registered for classes, you met your teachers; you're excited about it and don't pretend not to be. And Seattle… my god, girl, you've wanted to live there your whole life. The only thing left to do is find a place. And don't tell me you can't afford it; because I know between the two of you, that you have more than enough."

"Esme, why are you encouraging this?" I asked, teary eyed.

"Because you need to go," she nodded her head.

"I'm not leaving. Period."

"You're leaving, Bella," she whispered, shaking her head. "You have no choice... period."

I stared in awe, blinking. I already knew what she was saying. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"It's for your own good, and I hope you'll trust me on this. We're having Edward leave this house Thursday night, unless you figure out what you're doing in said time," she stood up, brushed past me, and opened the door.

_No… no. _

_He can stay with me._

_Hah._

"And Charlie left a message for me too. He said that he loves you, but that you'd better start looking before he starts packing for you."

"Wait, you're going to take my decision out on Edward, that's not fair!" I screamed, infuriated.

_What the fuck…_

I panicked, pushing my arms against my tightening chest.

"Edward is my son, but you're also my daughter regardless of our blood. You two have been a team since you were children, I think you can figure this one out."

I blinked, still trying to understand what she was saying.

_No… she can't be serious._

"For your information, Alice has more than enough help. Stop worrying so goddamn much, and think about yourself for once."

_This can't be happening right now…_

"We love her and are more than capable of taking care of her. And don't try to resent Edward for this, because if I find out that you were; you won't see the end of that day."

I gaped, tears filling my eyes. Not by her threat, but of pure disappointment. "Esme please," I cried. She stared back, and the tears felt sour in my throat. I glared back at her, then threw my hands over my face.

"I love you, Bella," she said, walking over to me. She kissed my forehead. "Now go figure out what you're doing with your life, now. I don't want to see you until you have it figured it out."

_That fucking… bitch._

I stood up and walked over to the door, glaring at her.

"One day you'll realize why we're doing this, Bella. But for now you need to worry about yourself."

She shut the door in my face.

I gaped.

I stood there, infuriated.

_Why would they do this? Why wouldn't they give him more time? Why would dad do this to me? Why wouldn't they take a look at the bigger picture; Alice needs me here._

I slid down on the ground, burying my face in my hands.

_This isn't happening… why…_

_Think, Bella, think… what do I do. _

I felt my phone vibrate, and I pulled it out. It was a text from Charlie.

_**Sorry kid… I love you. But I'm not going to let you put your life on hold anymore.**_

I stared at the text.

_Why._

_Why the fuck does he care about where I go, all of a sudden?_

_He doesn't even want me to go… he never wanted me to._

I buried my head between my knees and felt a loud sob escaping from my chest.

"Bella," I heard a velvety smooth voice above me.

I didn't look up.

_I could make this so much easier. I could just leave._

_I could just run off, and make everyone's life a whole lot easier._

I felt his hands wrap beneath me, under my butt, pushing me. I hit his hand away and he pulled me back. I tried to fight against him but failed, I was already in his arms. I fought against him-hitting his chest and punching his arm, but it barely phased him. He carried me into his room and sat me on the bed.

I scrawled into the corner of the bed and stared at his ten thousand stacks of CDs. "Look at me."

"No."

"Goddammit, Bella. Fucking look at me."

"No!" I screamed, covering my ears. "Leave me _the fuck_ alone!"

I felt his hands against my wrist, trying to pull my hands from my ears. I hit him roughly several times. "Just stop... Edward, please leave me alone." I didn't look to see where I hit him, I just needed him to stop touching me. I felt bad even as I was doing it-I felt like I would seeing Jasper and Emmett beating someone up. Although I was barely even phasing the guy; he still meant the world to me.

I stood up and ran towards the door.

Before I could open it, it slammed shut; making me jump at the echoed noise. I looked up and I glared at him. "Let me go."

"No." I felt his arms around me like iron clad.

"Let me out!" I screamed in his face, nearly choking him when I yanked at the collar of his shirt.

"Stop it, Bella," he said calmly. "Get it together, look at me."

I could feel my heart pumping violently in my chest. "Fuck you."

"Talk to me."

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"I hate you."

"Bella, stop it. Think about what you're saying."

"Fuck you."

I felt his hands against my shoulder, yanking me back. "Bella, stop it!" he yelled at me. I felt his words reverberate through me, and I blinked. I looked back at him, my eyes filling with tears again. "Everything is going to be fine."

I slammed my eyes shut and tried to focus on my breath. I could only take half a breath before I started to pant. I shook my head, trying again.

"_Calm down, Bella," _I felt his hand against the back of my neck. "Everything is going to be fine," he repeated.

I took a deep breathe, and leaned my head against his hand.

_It's not fair._

_No, it's not._

I looked at him, seeing the worry and hurt in his eyes. I frowned, feeling my eyes well with more fucking tears.

_Fuck you, tears._

"I'm sorry," I sobbed loudly. "I'm so sorry, Edward."

He nodded wordlessly, wrapping me into a hug. I clutched against the collar of his tee shirt, sobbing again.

I felt his hand against my cheek. "She's going to be okay. Jasper is going to be okay. Charlie is going to be okay. Everyone is going to be fine."

I nodded.

"Come here," he nodded towards the bathroom, taking my hand and leading me towards the bathroom. He grabbed a rag from beneath the sink and filled it with cold water. He pressed it under my eyes, above them. "Please, Bella… try to stop crying."

I nodded, taking a deep breath.

"How are you acting so calm?" I asked through a hiccupping cry letting more tears fall from my cheek.

"I'm not," he shook his head, looking away. "I punched Carlisle in his face when he told me he was kicking me out. Which is why my two week limit has been pushed to Thursday."

I shook my head. "You punched Carlisle in the face?"

He nodded. "I regret it now… I think I broke his nose. He was okay though."

"You broke his nose!" I screamed. "What the hell?"

I thought about how I'd punched Edward earlier, and I looked to the giant red mark on his arm and I blinked.

"Oh my god," I grabbed the rag and pushed it against his arm, crying more. "Edward, I am so so sorry."

He smiled slightly, taking it from me. "I guess we're both a little messed up."

I nodded, sniffling a little. "That's why they're getting rid of us," I said through a teary smile. "You're an abusive son, and I'm a shitty girlfriend."

He kissed my cheeks that were sore and red from crying, and leaned into my forehead. "Fuck them… we don't have to go just because they're kicking us out. We can move in next door."

"Clearly not," I rolled my eyes. "But I think the original plan will work, too."

He nodded against my forehead. "I think that's a good idea. I don't think I could afford to find another school anyway, I already spent thirty grand."

I grimaced. "Should we talk to everyone?"

He nodded. "Let's try to look a little normal first. I look like I went through a tornado and you… actually, I think we should just wait until tomorrow. You have snot in your hair."

* * *

**One Week Later**

"I've been a fool and I've been blind!" I sang loudly. "I can never leave the past behind, I can see no way; I can see no way! I'm always dragging that horse around, but our love has past-it's such a mournful sound! Tonight I'm going to bury that horse in the ground. I like to keep my issues drawn, it's always darkest before the dawn… shake it out, shake it out! Shake it out, shake it out! Ah-oh-oh!"

Edward shook his head as he drove, leaning forward to turn the volume on the radio down. "Is there a Florence Welch song you won't sing, for my sake?"

"Why would I not sing Florence?" I shook my head. "And I'm sick of your judgments, I'm gonna shake it off."

"Don't do this to me," he shook his head. "I don't like this shit, and you know it."

"Because it's not the Offspring, or the Pixies, or some other band you so blindly follow?"

"Don't start this with me, Bella," he said with a laugh. "You won't win, and you know it."

"No, enlighten me Edward. I want to know why you don't like Florence Welch."

"I like Florence Welch, I just don't like you screaming her songs every time you hear them on the radio."

I glared at him, my mouth gaping. "How. Dare. You."

He shrugged it off with a laugh. "What can I say? I love it when you scream along with every other song, your passion with her song just throws me off. You act even weirder than weird, which is weird for you because you pretty much are the weirdest person alive."

I crossed my arms, propping my feet against the dashboard. "You know, if your sister wasn't just in an accident I would be throwing my shoe at your face."

"So if she wasn't in a car accident, you would be throwing a shoe at my face?" he nodded, shaking his head. "I could see that actually, considering you've done it to me before."

"Because you're a good driver, and you deserved to be smacked in the face. With a size 8 shoe."

"Damn, big foot," he said. I smacked his arm, and he waved his hand in front of my face. He pushed his palm against my face, shoving my head into the seat. "Just get out of my car Bella. I feel threatened right now, you're scaring me. I mean really, impairing my ability to drive with your face."

"Stop," I cried, trying to move his hand. Instead he started pinching my cheeks. I laughed, slapping his arm. "Stop!"

He pulled his hand back to the wheel and shook his head. "Like a damn child."

I smiled, twisting my fingertips across my cheeks. "If you want to be with me, _just smile-smile_ and be happy."

"See, there you go again. Just stop it, Bella. You quote too many movies, songs, and _way_ too much Edgar Allan Poe."

"I thought you liked the Poe side of me?"

He chuckled. "I love every side of you, I just like to tease you."

"Well that's pointless, because the more you tease me the weirder I'm going to get."

"Exactly," he said with a laugh.

He pulled into the parking lot and shut the car off, then turned to look at me. "When do I stop falling in love with you, so I can just push you out of my life without any complications?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, that sounds like your problem."

"Yeah," he nodded, then narrowed his eyes. "Well I'm going to make it your problem."

"Huh?" I asked. Before I could see his expression, I felt his hands tangle into my hair before he yanked my face to his to kiss me.

At first I was too taken back to respond; but I soon realized what was happening and I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. Eagerly, I pushed him back and straddled his lap as I took his bottom lip between mine. He graciously accepted my advance, and twisted his fingers unheedingly through my shirt.

It was a kiss filled with pure lust and passion, which ended entirely too quickly.

I pulled back to breath. He looked at me through heavy lids and brushed the hair from my eyes.

"We're going to be living together soon," I sighed.

"I know."

"And we're going to be able to do this all of the time," I smirked.

"I know."

"And other things."

"I know."

He kissed me again, this time with as much force as lustiness. I gasped, clutching onto his hair. This time he pulled back. "Okay come on, let's go buy some pots and pans and shit."

I nodded, climbing off his lips; but not without kissing him one last time. "No, we have to make this one count." As I reached for the handle I felt his arms twisting back around me to pull me into another kiss.

I laughed against his lips. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing myself fully against him, and pushed him against the seat. I hug-kissed him.

I pulled back, seeing the hazy smirk in his eyes. "Is that better?"

He nodded. "Much."

I laughed, pushing past him to exit out of the passenger. I felt his hand against my butt, then I felt a hard smack. "Owe... that's new."

"I've been waiting a while to do that. I saw an opportunity, and I took it."

"I saw an opportunity to do much more than that," I said with wink.

He didn't laugh.

Jerk.

We walked inside of the store and I instantly felt overwhelmed by the different areas to go to; having no clue where to begin or if I even needed to begin. "I don't understand… what is this place?"

"It's ugh," he pulled out the gift card we recieved from Esme. "Pottery barn?"

"There's so much stuff… I don't think we need any of this."

"Maybe we entered the wrong area of the store," he suggested. "Let's walk this way."

I grabbed a cart and followed him down the aisle. "Ah, pots and pans."

"That's not pots and pans. I mean I figured there would be pots and pans here, the name is pottery barn right?"

He frowned. "You know, I think we should just go to Walmart. This place sucks ass… oh, that's a cool lamp." He side tracked over to the next aisle.

I rolled my eyes, and pulled out my list of "shit we need". I looked down the list and found several things for the bathroom, the kitchen, and our bedroom. I found myself choosing the themes and color schemes for the different rooms as I went along. I chose red for the kitchen, a modern brown bathroom, and the bedroom was a mix of dark purple and silver

"Look at this, Bella… it's such a nice clock," he looked at me, then back at the clock. "We could time how long we make out."

"We have three clocks," I told him. "And no offense, but I don't think I want to know how long I spend making out with you. I think it's something other people would just find sad."

"Yes, but look;" he said, moving the big hand of the clock. "This one is so nice."

I looked at it closely. It was silver, which was good enough for me.

It was nice.

"Okay fine, how much is it?"

"Over our budget."

"Whatever, just throw it in…"

After another hour and a half of trying to pick out curtains for the bathroom, along with some miscellaneous tins and bins for the place we decided on.

Thanks to Esme's coercing, she was able to talk to the owner of the condo we were looking at to let us move in as early as two weeks. Which was cutting it short still; we would have only a small amount of time to get everything situation and get ready for school a few short days later.

She has to make it absolutely clear that Edward's dog would be in a safe environment.

Alice wanted to be a part of something; so I put her on comforter and bed duty. I was trusting her with the thing I truly cared most about; my sleep.

By the time we'd emptied the car out it was already noon and we decided to go to Taco Bell for lunch.

"You know, I don't think you're going to be able to eat all three of those soft tacos, a super tray of nachos, a pizza, and what is that? Cinnamon sticks?"

"Churros," I corrected.

"Yeah, Bella, I mean it seems pretty much like what you eat for breakfast everyday."

"You're seriously going to judge me?" I raised an eyebrow. "You got _five _tacos, a burrito, and a quesadilla. And my breakfast consist of all the food groups; milk and a pop tart... okay two pop tarts. Okay, technically it's four pop tarts, damn."

He laughed. "What's wrong with my food?"

"You eat like a girl, is my point," I said with a laugh.

He shook his head, shoving a large bte of burrito in his mouth. "Ah eat like a mahn," he said through his food.

I cringed. "Gross."

"Hey Bells!" I looked up and saw Jacob Black standing there with a bag of food. "Hey, uh… Edward?"

Edward smiled with a full mouth.

I smiled at him. Asshole. God I love him.

"Hey Jake, whats up?"

"Ah not much. Hey Jasper hasn't been coming for his tickets in a long time, whats going on?"

"His tickets?" I asked.

"Yes, his tickets."

"Oh… oh his tickets. Um, I think he's just trying to cut down smoking so many tickets for a little bit."

"Oh," he nodded. "Alright. Well tell him to give me a call hun."

I nodded as he waved at us.

"Bye Jake."

"Hun?" I looked at Edward.

I shook my head. "Don't be jealous, I'm almost completely positive that he's gay."

"You told me about that." He shook his head, swallowing a bite of food. "You know, we're those kinds of people who hang around Waffle House all night, drinking coffee and playing trading cards, and then we come to Taco Bell and we know we don't belong. Yet here we are; eating soft tacos and drinking melted cheese like it's Kool-Aid because we like cheap and unauthentic Mexican food."

I shook my head. "The level that your statement actually makes sense to me is just mind blowing."

"I know, it's sad."

We finished our tacos and I found myself staring off into space.

"Hey Bella," he said.

"Hey Edward," I mocked.

"Can I intrigue you into doing something totally crazy?" he asked.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Do you want to go somewhere?"

"Where?"

"Anywhere… let's go take a road trip. Tonight."

I looked away then. "Okay, well…. We just get in the car and go then?"

He nodded.

I thought for a moment. "Okay. Let's go."

* * *

**AN: So the original last two chapters I had to make serious changes to. It was a little rushed, but originally Mike Newton died from the accident from being thrown out of the windshield. Not seriously injured. It made these chapters much darker, and I felt like it would throw off the direction of the story and end up seeming way too harsh. I know it seems a little harsh now; but it's a risk I'm going to take. Alice was okay in the original; only she suffered from memory loss and not just migraines. I had to go all drama-lama about Jasper, of course. Now the last thing I wanted to elaborate on is the fight between Bella and Edward (if it could even be called that). If anything it was about expressing how passionate she felt about being there for everyone, and she was angry at her family for threatening to take that away from her so she took it out on Edward. I know most people wouldn't be as forgiving for her little outburst as Edward was, but regardless he was.**


	12. Chapter 12

**WARNING: This Chapter contains lemons. As a matter of fact, a solid second half of this long ass chapter is a lemon.**

* * *

**I've been waiting  
I've been waiting for this moment all my life  
But it's not quite right**

**And this 'real'**  
**It's impossible if possible**  
**At who's blind word**  
**So clear but so unheard**

**I've been waiting**  
**I've been waiting for this silence all night long**  
**It's just a matter of time**

**To appear sad**  
**With the same 'ol decent lazy eye**  
**Fixed to rest on you**  
**Aim free and so untrue**

**Everyone's so intimately rearranged**  
**Everyone can focus clearly with such shine-**

**Lazy Eye by Silversun Pickups**

* * *

**Portlandia**

**Bella**

My decisions in the past few months are ones that have led me to believe that I am testing fate. Being with Edward, applying at the University of Washington, deciding to move out with him… they were all things that I'd done without giving them a second thought. Of course it wasn't necessary to think so much about choosing to be with Edward-that's like choosing to breathe carbon monoxide instead of air.

So when Edward asked if I would take a road trip with him; the last thought from my mind was thinking it through and coming to terms with the decision I made.

"I want this to be about letting loose for a little while," Edward said as he drove down the highway. "This summer has been… _eventful, _to say the least. But I think it would do us both some good if we just took off and had some sort of adventure, maybe it would help lift some weight off of your shoulders."

I nodded. I knew that after what happened the night that Esme told me she was kicking us out, I had overreacted big time. I kept apologizing to Edward, knowing it wouldn't be enough. I had hit him, told him I hated him, screamed in his face. I was waiting for the moment where he stopped and kicked me out of the car for treating him like shit, but it wasn't happening. He still kept smiling at me lovingly, making this face at me like I was the best thing in the world to him.

I curled up next to him in the car, leaning my head against his shoulders. He wrapped his arm around me and sang along to "All of these things that I've done" by the Killers.

It was silent but peaceful in a way. The highway was never ending, and we had a full tank of gas. We drove for hours, taking turns when one of us got tired. We ate Twizzlers and Cheetos and played silly games he'd come up with along the way.

There was nothing to it at first, but I slowly grew accustomed to the road and adjusted my eyes around me to look at things. When we passed the sign I nearly screeched with excitement. "Oh my god… Edward, we're in Portland!"

He laughed. "I know, Bella. What do you want to do now? We can go wherever you want."

I sighed. "Um… let's see Portlandia and go from there."

He nodded, entering it into his GPS as he drove. "Good idea."

We drove for another fifteen minutes, until we reached the highway for downtown Portland. There were many people riding bikes before we even left the highway, as if they were all traveling in a group. I was eager to get out and explore as we found a parking space blocks away from the Portlandia statue.

Along the way I had to stop in several shops and take a gander at the unique items they sold. I found the businesses there more intriguing than anything else. We passed by many major brand stores around like Nordstrom, Tiffany & Co, and H&M. There were also several stores for hikers and northwest swimmers, and vintage clothing stores.

When we found Portlandia I was more excited by the minute. It was huge. I heard it was one of the taller statues of a woman guarding a building, so I couldn't help but be interested. It was intimidating, around 39 feet tall. Her face looked angry and determined.

"What does she eat for breakfast every morning?" Edward asked, leaning into me.

"I imagine that she eats souls for breakfast, Edward," I said, trying to contain my laughter. "But I'm sure she adds some protein in there every once in a while too."

"There's no protein in souls?" he asked, humoring me. "My life has been a lie."

"No," I shook my head. "Souls are just empty carbs."

He turned his head away as he chuckled, rubbing his eyes. "You kill me sometimes."

I shrugged and laughed. "Sometimes you just need to loosen up."

He pulled me into him, tugging on the strings of my hoodie. "You look cold."

"It's pretty cold," I said as he pulled my hood up. He tightened the strings so the hood covered my face. "Thanks," I muffled into the cloth. He chuckled, loosening it some.

"Let's feed you," he suggested, pulling me to walk across the street. I laughed, pushing my hood off.

"I'm not a baby, you know? I mean really 'let's feed you', like it's a group effort," I said with a giggle.

"Sometimes it is a group effort," he said, stopping to look around. "So we have… Chinese… um… burgers…"

"Chinese sounds good," I agreed, and he pulled us towards the restaurant.

I laughed, running to keep up with him as he tugged on my hand. We entered the restaurant, and Edward ran/walked over to the hostesss. "Excuse me miss, my wife Isabella hasn't eating in two hours. Can we get a table please?"

I covered my mouth and laughed to the side. The hostess looked at me and laughed. "Two hours?"

Edward's face stared stern. "Yes. This is serious though, she's pretty hungry."

She laughed. "Okay, buddy hang on. I'll see what I can do."

I rolled my eyes as he walked back to me and the girl trailed back to the tables. "What is wrong with you?" I asked, pinching his arm. He cringed, rubbing his arm.

He laughed when he saw my facial expression. "You said I needed to loosen up."

"I said 'loosen up', not call me your fat ass wife!"

He shook his head. "Not what I said, dear. Loosen up, Bella."

I barked a laugh and crossed my arms. We were in our seats less than a minute later.

* * *

I knew I was being a creep. I was watched him as he drove, his head nodding back every so often as he stretched his neck. For Washington; the hottest it ever got was around eighty degrees. It's eighty-eight. And I feel like I'm dying of a heat stroke.

It was dark outside, around 11:00 P.M., and the road we took was mostly vacant. We would pass people walking down the empty highway every so often, some hitchhikers and others seemed like they we're just walking for fun.

He pulled over to stretch out for a second and I stepped outside to lean against the trunk. He followed me and sat on the trunk, lighting a cigarette. I looked around to take in my surroundings. There weren't trees anywhere in sight, it looked like a dirt road all around.

He pulled me over to him, between his legs, and held me between them. "Look up," he told me.

I looked up and felt his lips press against my next. "Describe to me what you see."

I felt his lips against my neck again, this time wet from licking them. "I, uhm… I see," I looked up and saw the cluster of stars in the sky, bright and shiny. I tried to find shapes but I quickly lost my train of thought. "I see stars… and…"

"What else?" he asked, placing his hand against the small of my back to push me into him.

"The moon," I sighed, as he pushed his lips back to my neck, sucking against the back of my earlobe. I tried to focus on the moon, but shut my eyes as he nibbled against it.

He pulled back and turned my head, forcing me to look at him. "You are so beautiful…"

"Edward," I began, and soon found his lips tangled with mine. I wrapped my hands around his neck, pulling his head further with mine. I felt his hands clutching against my shoulder blades, scratching against my shirt.

I moaned against the pain, and breathed shakily against his mouth. He pulled back and released my hips from his leg lock. I felt his hands tangle into my hair, and I pushed into him; throwing my arms around his neck.

_Don't stop_, my mind pleaded at him.

I was waiting for the moment for him to pull away. He never let our kisses get too heated, even if it were just making out. It was always "simple" making out, nothing slobbery or intense.

This was different though. This time he was giving me his all.

I felt his hands grasp me again, this time he pulled me closer into him. This only last for a few more moments before he slightly pulled back to end the kiss. I sighed in frustration, narrowing my eyebrows.

I opened my mouth to speak. "I can drive the rest of the way if you want?"

He pursed his lips. "I had a better idea instead."

I looked up, my eyebrow raised.

"Why don't we just get a room somewhere, and we could go home tomorrow instead?" he asked.

"We're going to get too tired soon anyway," I agreed.

"Alright," he whisked around to the driver's side and I got back in the car. He eased back onto the vacant highway once more.

I turned on music, the GPS telling us we would be about 45 minutes within reach of a hotel. We stayed mostly silent, the night air whisking around us and keeping us in comfortable silence. Edward pulled into a motel and stared ahead.

The motel was practically the only thing in sight, a few empty parking lots for a few blocks ahead. The blue lights in the sign were going out, flickering every so often. The lot of the motel was empty, although there was a swimming pool in the side that seemed to freak me out even more.

Swimming pools in Washington hotels probably weren't the most profitable; especially since the most you'd be able to swim is maybe two months out of the year.

"Oh my god, Edward," I shook my head.

"What baby?" he asked, looking at me.

"This is like every horror movie I've ever seen in my life. A young couple who runs away from home finds themselves at a sketchy motel, two hours later and they're both dead. I'll probably get smashed by a vending machine, and you'll die from getting pulled apart my two cars and a tow chain."

"Bella, quit," he said. "You're freaking me out."

I laughed then.

"If only we had weed, I think this would be the weirdest night of our lives."

I stopped laughing, turning to make a creepy stare. "Oh my god, Edward. I think I have weed in my bag..."

"We just drove like a million miles, and this whole time you had weed on you?" he asked, his face angry.

I blinked. "Yeah."

His face softened. "We could have been high this whole time."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm just kidding," he shook his head.

I pulled it out then. "We can always just… get rid of the evidence?"

* * *

"Don't try and turn this around on me," I shook my head. "You knew exactly what you were doing."

He shook his head, blowing on his hand. "That hurt."

"Don't stick your hand in my face, and I won't bite you," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "So… that was your problem."

He shook his head. "You're insane, you know."

I looked at him and smiled. "I have an idea."

He raised an eyebrow, and I sat alongside of the bed. "Okay so… this one is a classic. Truth or dare."

"Bella, come on. You can't be serious?"

"Jay-Z serious," I joked.

He sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "Eh… truth."

"You always pick truth," I exasperated a sigh.

"Because your dares suck ass. I mean the last time I picked dare, Bella, your father threw me in jail. Naked."

"That wasn't truth or dare we played, that was your punishment. And it was Emmett's idea. As for Charlie; you should have put on a better show for him," I said with a shrug. "And you act like it was the worst night of your life. He gave you a blanket, and let you keep your phone in the jail cell so you could cry to Esme all night long."

He threw his hands in the air. "I was fifteen, give me a break!"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, whatever helps you sleep at night. Well this game really sucks. I already know everything there is to know about you."

He shook his head. "No you don't. You don't know when the last poop I took was."

"Ten minutes ago, it still reeks in here."

"You know, you could at least humor me for ten seconds. Always throwing shit in my face!" he growled. "Dare."

I laughed. "That's the spirit. I dare you to jump in the swimming pool completely naked," I said, without giving it a moment of thought.

He stood up, took his shirt off, and walked over to the door. "Stupid dares. All of them require me to be naked. Why?"

I stared at him in awe. I didn't listen to him, just stared at his bare chest.

"Are you coming?"

I laughed, chocking a little. "Uh… duh."

I walked outside and followed him around the motel to the swimming pool. There was an iron black gate surrounding it, and I peeped inside. "Okay, Ed," I pushed myself over the edge of the gate easily. He followed me, ignoring the pool hour's sign.

The pool was underground, no more than 5 feet deep. We walked over to the deep end and I smiled at him.

He slipped off his pants, and turned around. "No peeking. This is strictly a dare, nothing else."

"Nothing else," I agreed, then turned my head a little. "But I do have to peek a little, otherwise I won't know if you've completed the dare."

He huffed a laugh and shimmied his hands to close my eyes.

I heard him ruffling around, and I couldn't help but turn my head slightly. I caught sight of his bare back, and trailed my eyes down to his butt. My eyes widened. It was so perfect. Like someone had sculpted an image of a perfect ass on Edward.

Before I could blink, Edward had already hopped into the pool. I laughed as he resurfaced, groaning. "Fuck, Bella! That hurt my nuts."

"You should have chosen a different jumping technique," I shrugged. He glared back.

"So… pick…"

I looked at him curiously. "Heh?"

"Truth or dare, Bella. This isn't a one sided game, I expect you to participate as well."

"Oh, right. Umm," I thought for a second. "Truth."

"Uh-uh… you talked me into a dare, now you have to do one."

I sighed. "Can I at least keep my clothes on?"

He pursed his lips. "If you throw me my boxers, yes."

I laughed, throwing the boxers in at him. They landed in the water and he grabbed them. He attempted to put them on underwater, by the edge, where I wouldn't sneak a glance.

"Hop in the pool, Bella," he said once he was done.

"No thanks," I shook my head. "I'm good on that one."

His expression changed, and he tilted his head to the side. "Hop… in the pool, Bella."

"This is the dare?" I asked. "It's freezing… and these are the only clothes I have."

He smirked at me and my expression changed. I shook my head at him. "You're evil."

I gave in finally and sat at the edge of the pool. "Can I take my shoes off?"

He nodded.

I took my converse off and chucked them over by Edward's clothes. I leaned forward, shivering slightly. I dipped my socks into the water, feeling it seep through to my skin. I gagged a little. "Gross."

"Come on, Bella; this is now a timed dare. Twenty seconds or I'm throwing your ass in."

I moaned. "Shut the fuck up! I'm mentally preparing myself."

"For what?" he said with a chuckle. "15, 14, 13…"

I sighed, shutting my eyes. I dipped my feet throughout the water and shook at the temperature change. Before I had the chance to adjust, I felt myself being pulled the rest of the way in. It felt like icicles.

I came up, gasping for air. "You asshole! You were only on 7 seconds."

He laughed, pulling my face up to his. "I'm sorry, but you wouldn't have jumped in after that anyway."

I rolled my eyes and pushed his face away from mine. "Stop trying to dazzle me, Edward. It's not gonna happen. I'm pissed."

He forced my eyes to his. "I think I can make it happen," he said, shrugging his shoulders as he drifted away from me. "It's just a hunch, but I can dazzle you."

I glared at him, and turned to get out of the water.

"Bella," he whispered in my ear. "Prepare to be dazzled."

"Oh, I hated those things. Remember Alice kept-"

I turned around and gaped slightly at the beautiful and terrifying look on his face. He laughed at my sentence-stopping, and cupped his hands between my face. "You're so silly sometimes."

_Don't fall for it, Bella. You know this kid, you watched him pick his boogers and shove them into your dads couch. Don't be dazzled._

I shut my eyes when I felt his lips smash against my semi-open mouth. I breathed in and gasped against his lips. He sucked against my bottom lip, tangling his fingers into my wet hair. I shut my mouth and returned the kiss.

Suddenly the temperature of the water was irrelevant. My sopping wet clothes felt heavy against my skin, my hoodie dragging against my neck; but I didn't care anymore. I felt Edward's hand press against the hem of my shirt, his hand slipping underwater to go beneath my shirt.

_Undazzle yourself, Bella. You know he's just going to pull away._

He used this new touch to pull us closer together. He bent down and wrapped his hands around my legs to wrap them around his hips. I felt him push me against the pool, keeping us leveled as he left his hands planted firmly against my ass.

I shivered slightly as his lips touched my next. He pulled away slightly, moving his hands up to my cold face. "You're freezing. Come on, let's go."

I nodded then, and he let my feet slowly slip back to the water. I scrambled over to the concrete and he followed over to me. He slipped his jeans back on and I attempted to squeeze the water out of my hoodie.

"I didn't mean for you to freeze," he whispered, wrapping his warm hands around my face. I felt him grasping onto my shoulders tightly, and whisked me legs up from beneath me; carrying me bridal style.

"Edward!" I threw my head back. "I hate when you do this. I'm dripping wet, I can't go back inside yet!"

"Get over it," he teased, kissing my cheek.

He set me down across the other side of the gate.

Before we even met the door, I ripped my hoodie off of my body. "I can't believe this shit," I grumbled, kicking off my pants as soon as I walked through the door. I shivered as the breeze from the air conditioning hit my body.

I stood there, in my bra and underwear; and I hopped on the bed. I covered myself in the comforters we pulled from the trunk, and tightened them around me.

Edward frowned, and walked over to the AC unit to shut it off.

He walked over to me and laid himself next to me. I instantly shriveled next to him, wrapping the cover around the both of us. "Okay, maybe truth or dare was a bad idea."

"I know. I saw you half naked."

I laughed, covering my face as I blushed. "Edward the clothes were making me colder."

"I know…" he said, shaking the bed with his laughter. "Come on, I'll try to warm you up."

He pushed an arm underneath me and enveloped me in a hug. "I love you Bella."

I smiled, knotting my fingers into his wet hair. "I love you too, Edward."

"I'm sorry I made you freeze."

"I'm sorry I made you freeze. Naked."

He chuckled, pulling me tighter to him. He paid no attention to my half-naked body beneath the comforters, he kept his hold above the covers. I snuck my hands out of the comforter, trying to get him to warm them.

I pressed my hands together and held them out. He took them between his, blowing his hot breath onto them. I sighed, watching as he worked his palms against my hands. "That's better."

He smiled, catching my gaze. "Do you want a towel?"

I shook my head. "I'm okay."

"Do you want me to get another cover?"

I shook my head again.

"Are you okay?"

I shook my head, wrapping my hands around his neck. "I'm cold, and I want you to kiss me."

He laughed. "I can't argue with that."

"Yeah, yeah. Just shut up and kiss me," I said, pushing his neck down. He gave in, dipping his head down to my lips once again that night.

I sighed against his lips, running my hands through his bronze hair. I felt him tense up as I ran my hands lower, down his bare backside.

I could feel the weight of him becoming more apparent as the kiss continued, weakening his arms so that he was somewhat on top of my naked-covered body. I playfully extended the tip of my tongue to graze against the edge of his lip; silently asking him for entrance.

He opened his mouth slightly, letting me do my silent exploration. I flicked my tongue against his, daring him. I felt his arms tighten around me, his fingertips digging against my shoulder like he had done earlier.

His hand drifted towards my neck as he plunged his tongue against mine, fighting for dominance. I moaned against him, running my fingers across his warm back. I felt his muscles ripple against his chest as he pulled back to breath. He pulled back and I licked my lips, looking into his eyes.

I felt dizzy and warm.

I shrugged the cover off of me, effectively removing the most obvious barrier between us. Edward pulled back his eyes opening slightly; alarmed. I watched as he took in our new position.

I was at war with myself. _He wouldn't let you show him your boobs last month, why would he let you… oh… oh, never mind._

I felt him maneuver us so that he was now positioned between my legs, his pants and my underwear acting as our only thin barrier.

Before I could give him a chance to move, I tightened my arms around him. He pulled his lips away, only to place them back against my neck. I felt him stop beneath my ear. "Bella," he whispered, wrapping his other hand on the other side of my neck. "I know you're cold and wet, but I need to know that this is okay with you."

I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Don't stop," I said nervously.

I mentally scolded myself for coming off so unsure.

Do something now.

I made up for it by pushing Edward off of me, only to wrap myself back around him. I kissed him again, feeling his hands roaming around my back.

**Edward**

I don't think she realized what kind of state I was in. How I would give into her every command, every need, in that moment. I'd been that way since I kissed her on the Highway; I'd give her anything she wanted. She didn't realize this until now. How could she know? I'd never given her any hint; playing off my looks as teasing gestures. She wasn't familiar with any of this, she had no way of knowing. It was purely instinctive.

She straddled her hips against my against my lower abdomen, tilting down to press her lips against mine. I released a throated groan, tracing my fingers along her soft back.

She pulled back slightly, and sat against my abdomen. I felt the weight of her, her now warm and slightly damp underwear against my skin. I watched as she moved her hands around her back, unbuckling her bra.

I felt myself getting giddy inside; my head heavy with anticipation. When the bra dropped down to her forearms I trailed my eyes down her crème colored skin, where her full breasts lay open to me. I watched for a long moment, taking in the sight of her.

I always knew Bella had full-breast; I am a living, breathing man walking this earth. However I'd never dared to peak at her, however much I wanted to.

I got selfish quick.

I gripped onto her hips, simultaneously rolling us back over. I looked down and trailed my lips along her breast, to her nipples.

At first I thought I misheard her-an accidental cry or a gasp of some kind. But I listened closer to hear her, and I caught onto her small whimpers of impatience.

_Don't give in,_ I told myself. _Be slow. You've done it before, why can't you now?_

I kissed down her neck to the top of her chest, where I moved down her to between her breasts. I enveloped her nipple between my lips, toying with it slightly as I blew cold air onto her. I felt her gasp slightly, her tremble reverberating through me.

I used my other hand to play with her other breast, at first I simply grazed it with my fingertips.

"Edward," she gasped.

I pulled back and looked at her. "Bella," I said, my hand smoothing down her sides. "You're so perfect."

She sighed out and smiled at me. I maneuvered my way back up to her, feeling her heat against me. My hands moved over her breast and down her smooth stomach, stopping when I'd felt the top of her underwear.

I was eager to explore this part of her most, as if it were some secret I would finally get to be a part of; only she was the love of my life and she was more than willing to share this part of herself with me. I made a conscious effort not to push it any further, until I felt Bella's lips against my neck.

She could feel where she sucked against my skin. I felt her flatten her tongue against my neck; running it alongside my jaw.

My eyes met hers, and she moved her hand up to touch my face. "Please, Edward… please."

And then my control was just thrown the outside the fucking window.

She knew before I could begin, nodding away. I laughed slightly, kissing her sweet neck. I pulled back to remove her underwear, sliding them under her hips and completely off of her legs. I moved back up to watch her, steadying myself against the bed to look at her. I slipped my hand down her body again, stopping as I reached her folds. She tightened the hold on my neck as I dipped my fingers into her.

I slid my thumb down until I felt a slight nub, rubbing above it. I felt her legs tremble slightly, her stomach coiling forward. My eyes kept trained on her face as I moved my fingers down further, stopping when I felt her wetness.

"Spread your legs a little wider baby," I told her. She complied, opening her legs to me.

"Edward," she whimpered, tangling her hands in my hair.

"I'm not stopping now, baby," I reassured her with a whisper, placing a kiss on her shoulder. "Tell me if it feels uncomfortable."

She nodded. I slowly slipped my middle finger into her heat, stopping as I felt the tightness envelope my finger.

I moved my hand so my palm was pressed against her clit, and I pushed deeper into her. Her eyes slammed shut, her mouth gaping open.

I knew more than my experience about the female anatomy. I'd often try to block out the memories of Emmett's lessons in 'pleasuring your girl' because he was so crude and graphic about it; only now I was more thankful for his lessons than hesitant.

Of course I wasn't going to be a complete asshole about this; doing things to her that would completely confuse and, most likely, upset her. I decide to test it instead.

Before I could pull away, I felt her hand right above mine. "More."

I nodded, thrusting my finger back in. I did it again, only adding a second finger. I heard a throaty moan coming from her as she tightened her grip in my hair. It was almost painful at this point; although I would care less if she ripped it from my head. I deserved it after making her wait for so long.

I pushed myself up to kiss her, thrusting my fingers against her again. This time, adding more friction along her clit. I tried my best to not let her moans and cries phase me; instead focusing on what I was doing to her. I felt her muscles pulsating around me and I couldn't resist the slight smirk I felt upon realization.

"Edward," she cried, her voice sounding like music to my ears.

"What, baby?" I asked, pulling my face away from hers.

I had to see her face, see that I was the one making her writhe against me. She started to gyrate her hips against me. "I… I think I'm…"

"Cum for me, Bella," I whispered, my eyes trained on her face. I rubbed her clit with the palm of my hand again.

Her lips fell open, eyes closed tightly. I felt her muscles tighten and pulsate around my fingers as she came, a throaty cry releasing from her mouth. I stilled my fingers inside of her, waiting until I felt her body relax to remove them.

Ignoring her fluids on my hand, I pushed my hand against the bed to steady myself above her. I watched as she opened her eyes, looking at me although half-lidded. I pushed her bangs out of her face, trying to see her face clearly.

She opened her eyes a little wider, then moved her hands around my neck. "Edward, I can't even begin to describe to you how amazing that was."

Before I could open my mouth to speak, I felt her lips collide with mine. I laughed in surprise, wrapping my hands in her hair. I felt her grip my back, her nails scratching lightly against the skin between my shoulders.

I felt her legs wrap around me, pulling my crotch to align with hers. I released a groan into her mouth from the contact, not realizing how extremely hard I was. I instinctively bucked my hips against hers, earning a cry from her. While it was slightly uncomfortable pressing against my jeans, the warmth of center made me groan against her again.

She kept her mouth firmly planting against mine her hands trailed down to my boxers. My eyes shot opened.

_I didn't bring her here for this… this was supposed to be an adventurous road trip we were taking; not this._

I felt her pull away slightly, and I opened my eyes to see her looking at me pleadingly. "Edward, please…"

_Fuck, baby… I'll give you anything._

I nodded wordlessly, letting her shed the remainder of my clothes from my body.

**Bella**

I could feel him tense against me as I pushed his boxers off of his legs, removing the only thing left between us. I looked at him, taking his face between my hands. I forced him to look at me, his perplexed expression throwing me off.

His eyes met mine. "Edward, its okay… I promise, this is perfect. This day has been perfect for me."

I watched as his expression shifted from worried to loving. "It has been," he nodded, then licked his lips. "Stop me, at any time," he told me.

I nodded.

"Bella, this is going to change things between us," he told me, warning me. "I'm going to want this all of the time. Do you understand that?"

I nodded, unable to find my words.

He nodded, and leaned forward to kiss me again. I moved my arms over to explore his chest, running my hands along his chest. I moved my hands further down his body, stopping before I felt his penis. I pulled my head back and kissed his neck, moving my hand along the length of him.

I felt his breathing become jagged as I gripped around him, feeling the warmth and thickness of his manhood.

I know little about the male anatomy, and I would know nothing at all if it weren't for Alice. She had basically spoiled every secret in the book to me, and tried on numerous occasions to give me demonstrations of sorts. I wouldn't listen-too embarrassed, but I was thankful that I was able to remember the basics.

Oh my god… it's huge.

Well of course it is, it's Edward. He would be blessed in all things; not just his face and ass.

I pulled my hand up slightly, feeling him still above me. I wrapped my hand more firmly around him, pumping it around his girth. He bucked his hips slightly against my hand. "Jesus, Bella…"

I kissed his neck again, working my grip up and down. He clamped his eyes shut and pulled away from our position to kiss me. I loosened my hold and wrapped my hands around Edward."

I felt his hands against my thighs, where my legs wrapped around his hip. I instantly tightened my legs around him, feeling his length against my leg.

"I want to…" I said before he could ask any further. He laid me against the pillow then, pulling back slightly to check my expression.

He made me look him in the eyes again. "Tell me if it's too much."

He pulled my legs further apart, running his hands through my folds again. I felt him grasp my hip with one hand, and guide himself into me with the other.

I moaned as I felt the tip of him enter me, tightening my grip on his shoulders as he stretched me the further in he pushed. I shut my eyes, as I felt him stop for a second. "This might hurt, honey."

I nodded, opening my eyes again. "It's okay."

He pushed my legs open a little wider, and slid the rest of his manhood into me. I cried out as I felt him push through me, promptly clutching my fingers into his back. I felt Edward stiffen above me, waiting for me. When my face didn't change, he started to move.

"Don't," I stopped him, wrapping my arms around him again.

He nodded.

"Okay, try to move around a little bit," I urged him, once I was sure the sting was gone.

He pulled out slightly, his face hardening as he moved back in. The pain was still there, although it was now just a soreness. The stretching of him inside of me was still there-but it was a good kind of stretching.

I nodded for him to go on, and I felt the entire length of him leave my body only to slide back in. I tightened my legs around his, forcing him deeper inside of me. "Jesus, Bella!" he threw his head back as he thrust his cock deeper inside of me.

I moaned loudly as the stretching grew more heated, my nails digging into his lower back.

"You're so tight, Bella…" he said against my ear. "I didn't know it was going to be this way."

I knew exactly what he meant.

He pressed his lips against mine, thrusting into me.

I cried out, pushing my head against the pillows. I felt his length slide into me again; thrusting harder and faster each time. My hips would instantly meet him, wanting him harder despite the soreness in my body. I felt his hands move down my body, until he reached my clit. His fingers push against it, drawing a small circles around it. I moaned, bucking my hips to meet his thrust.

"Fuck!" Edward cried, slamming his hips equally as harder back against mine.

I started to feel myself getting wetter, becoming lost in the sensation of his thrusts and him rubbing me. As his fingers flipped back over my clit, I bucked against him and cried out as I felt the tight coil within my abdomen start to unreel.

"Bella," he groaned into my neck. "Cum for me, honey."

I nodded as he thrusts became harder and less controlled. "Edward!" I cried. I fell back as my orgasm took over me, making me shake with its intensity. I heard Edward moaning simultaneously with me, his mouth crashing down on mine to sound out our screams.

His face slowly softened as his thrusts came to an end. I felt him slowly pull out of me, and I almost instantly could feel the loss.

He moved on the other side of me, wrapping the comforter around me. He put his arms around me to keep us close together. "Bella; I can't even begin to tell you how incredibly thankful I am."

"You're thankful?" I asked with a laugh, propping myself up on my elbows. "You _waited _to do _this _with me!"

He laughed and shook his head. "My plan was originally to follow proper _etiquette, _Bella. I was going to make you wait, like, two years from now; until our wedding night or something. But then my protective thoughts about your virtue vanished when I remembered that I'm a twenty year old guy with a hot girlfriend who wouldn't let that happen regardless."

"So instead you take your hot girlfriend to Portland, get her jacked up on Chinese food, get high and play truth or dare."

"Yep. Down to the last detail."

I laughed. "You didn't even know I had the pot!"

"I'm not a warlock, Bella, I was just hoping you'd have pot in your bag," he said with a laugh. "But really, I didn't bring you here because I was trying to lure you into bed with me."

"I know," I reassured him as I laid against his shoulder. I felt myself completely relax and I started falling asleep.

"I love you, dork," I heard him mumble sleepily.

"I love you too, nerd."

* * *

**AN: Heh. Had to be done eventually ^^. **


	13. Illegal Substances and Suspicious Eyes

**AN: So I'm working on a new Twilight Fanfiction. It's not like my regular all-human fics, it's different. I tried to picture life without breaking dawn (I've never really been a huge fan of BD, although I did post fanfics from Nessie's POV in the past). **

**I think there's around 7 more chapters of Age of Consent.**

**I had to omit many chapters because I'm kind of a fucked up writer and take things too far, as you can tell. I may post some outtakes of them when I post the rest.**

**I wrote it awhile ago, what can I say? People change.**

**Anyway, here's another chapter.**

* * *

**Illegal Substances and Suspicious Eyes**

**Edward**

So I punching my dad in the face was a little fucked up. Actually, it was pretty fucked up.

I didn't really process the fact that I punched him until after he was clutching onto his nose in the driveway screaming "you motherfucker!"

Yeah.

Dad and I didn't get along.

It started when he came out to the garage while I cleaned out my car.

_"Your mother and I have been doing some thinking, and it's about time for you to move out," he said out of nowhere. _

_I paused, Bella's junk food trash in my hands. "What?"_

_"Move out... as in, leave our home and find your own."_

_"Why?" I asked, confused._

_He's drunk._

_"Because you have very little time before school starts, Edward. Do you realize that?"_

_"Dad, we haven't even figured out what-"_

_"Don't give me that bullshit. Ever since Alice got into an accident, you acted like you had no plan to begin with when we found out. You need to go, now."_

_I can smell the alcohol on his breath._

_I was infuriated._

_"Why are you shoving me out of the door, Carlisle?"_

_"Son, you're not listening to me. You don't have time to dick around anymore. I've had enough of your procrastination, your bullshitting around with Jasper; it's got to stop."_

_"What the fuck does Jasper have to do with this?"_

_"Why else would you mess around here for a year, to find yourself in Forks? I know Jasper had you smoking weed all year-you barely have any brain cells left! That's got to be why you opted for taking pointless classes at the community college."_

_The moment when my father started talking like Robert Deniro, I punched him in the face without thinking._

Yeah. I'm a little fucked up.

I think it just runs in the family.

Not even Jasper would raise his voice to his dad. So I knew I had issues.

I knocked on Carlisle's door days after I got back from Portlandia with Bella. I told him I was sorry that I broke his nose, and nothing else that I said.

He ignored me and stared at him computer screen.

I delivered a half-assed apology, that says something.

* * *

**Alice**

It was the night before Bella and Edward were supposed to leave and I could feel it's not a good night for him. He was pissed at everyone.

Everyone but me, apparently.

I figured it probably had to do with the fact that Esme and Carlisle were the ones who ordered them away and Charlie was totally fine with it.

I wasn't stupid, I knew why Esme and Carlisle kicked Edward out. They knew he'd be on the same boat with Bella no matter what; if she wanted to stay behind with me then he would be totally fine with it.

Bella calls me stupid for staying behind with everyone, yet she doesn't face up to the fact that's exactly what Edward did too. Only he did it because he was head over heels in love with her but wouldn't say it.

Either she is really stupid or ignoring it, it's true.

But now they have each other and everything is just fucking perfect.

Yeah. _Fucking perfect._

So there we were, getting high and watching cartoons. We were watching some fucked up show called Adventure Time. We watched this weird little cloud guy hopping through… space? Yep, pretty sure he was hopping through space.

Jasper turns to me, eyes glazed over. "We smoked a whole 8th."

I frowned.

"We have to stop this Alice, it's getting… just…"

I looked at him and laughed.

He snorted a laugh and his eyes widened. "Oh my god, Alice. Your room looks like shit."

I looked around.

He was right.

Place was a fucking mess.

I didn't care.

I shrugged.

"Don't let Bella in here, she'll go nuts," he shook his head. "That bitch won't let me take my shoes off without telling me where to put them."

I laughed. "Oh yeah. She cleans my room too… oh my god… Jasper. What are we going to do without her?"

I started crying.

"I don't know. I'm considering bunking it with her and Ed."

"No," I shook my head.

He laughed, pulling me over to hug me. "I'll bring you with me, okay?"

I shook my head, wiping my snotty face. "No, I have to go to school here."

"Oh yeah… me too. Shit… I totally forgot about that," he frowned.

"Jazz!" I whined, slumping my shoulders. "Did you even get a notebook, or a pen?"

He thought for a moment. "I'm sure Bella will let me have a pen before she goes."

"That's your plan?"

He nodded. "That's the plan."

I shook my head, standing up. "Come on, we're getting you school supplies."

He laughed. "I can't drive, Ally."

"We'll have someone else drive then, come on," I urged, slipping my shoes on and grabbing my bag.

I walked down to Edward's room and knocked. It took him several minutes to get to the door, dressed in his boxers and looking like he was in the middle of a workout.

"You look sweaty," I shook my head. "Never mind. Is Bella here? I wanted to see if she would want to go to Walmart."

"No," I heard someone call from inside the room. I poked my head in and found Bella sitting on the bed, fully clothed and her hair ruffled around.

I frowned. "Bella please."

She sighed, throwing her hands on the bed. "Al, I have shit I have to get done before we leave tomorrow."

"You're brother needs shit for school," I hissed. "And I_ really_ want a gallon of ice cream."

She looked over at me and laughed. "Okay bitch, just give me a second."

I smiled back and stuck my tongue out. "Love you!"

Jasper was being slow when I made my way back to my room. He had a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he slipped his shoes on his feet.

"It's not everyday you see a Cullen in Walmart. Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I'm ready to see the great values of this year."

We finally made it out to the car with Bella and Edward. The whole ride there Bella played a bunch of Third Eye Blind songs and made us all want to kill her for short periods of time. It passed when Edward finally took the IPod from her and switched it to something else.

She still sang.

When we got in I was shocked to see that everything looked so new and… decorative. "It's the new Walmart. This is where the money-savvy come now."

I blinked, distracted by the colorful foods on the left. "But… there's fruit?"

"Come on, Al. School supplies," Jasper motioned for me to follow him.

We reached the back-to-school area and I threw ten thousand things in the cart, not really paying attention to repeats more than I wanted to make sure I got everything. We filled up more than half of the cart; between Edward, Bella, Jasper and I.

I found out that they didn't get any school supplies either; they were so worried about getting everything ready in their place that they paid no attention to school altogether.

We all needed shit. We walked around and I found myself actually stopping to look at the scarves, but scurried away when I felt the gritty material.

Bella and I ended up filling the rest of the cart up with cosmetics and special shampoos and body washes. It was more of a habit with us that we got shit we didn't need and use it once a year. After we were through the cosmetics, Jasper came over and dragged us over to the fish.

We passed Edward, who was seemingly invested in buying a kettle ball by the looks of it. It takes him ten years to make the decision to get something, so I didn't bother.

We found the fish and Jasper went nuts. I don't know why, he just wanted a fucking goldfish.

Instead he chose to get several betas and I decided to get a turtle last minute. They just seemed so tough and cool, chilling in the tank and not giving a shit. And fucking adorable.

"I'm naming this one Rocky," I nodded.

"Original," Jasper nodded his head. "But this here is Velvet, Blue Cheese, and Popcorn Kernel."

"You named the goldfish Popcorn Kernel?"

He held it up to his face and nodded. "He looks like a Popcorn Kernel."

I heard Bella sigh loudly from behind me, stomping her feet.

She's always so impatient.

"Come on, guys. I didn't come here so we could-"

"Hey baby, do you think we can get another pet besides Jaeger?" he was over by the bigger fish.

They got into an argument and Jasper and I drifted into another aisle as they fought. "They can never have kids."

"I know, right?" I laughed.

We walked a little farther until we were met with the electronics sections, and I stopped dead in my tracks when I spotted Jessica Stanley. It wasn't just Jessica Stanley though, it was the girl standing beside her that threw me off guard. I took in the girls long figure, remembering how she always stood cockily. I saw her head bob while she talked and their was no denying it was her.

"What is she doing here?" Jasper was looking at her too.

I shook my head. "She's supposed to be in Alaska or something… she has no reason to come back here."

"If she comes near Edward, or any of us for that matter, I'm gonna fucking-"

"I know me, too," I interrupted him. We turned around and starting walking back towards Edward and Bella. "Do we say something?"

He shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"But… Bella," I urged on. "She might be upset."

We stopped as they met us around the corner and Jasper smiled at his sister like an idiot. "What?" she asked. "Why are you smiling? You don't smile, it's not in your nature."

"I'm with Alice," he said, pulling me over to ruffle my hair.

"Don't," I whined, pushing away from him to fix my hair.

"See, she's so fucking awesome. How could I not smile?"

"Jasper you're clearly fucked up. I think you should put the fish away, it was a mistake," Bella shook her head.

"But Bella," he cried, as if she were his mother.

If everyone didn't know that he was years older than her, they probably would think she's his mother.

"Jasper," she mocked his cry. "Put it back."

"You can't put a fish back once you've taken it out of the tank," he lied. "It's against store policy."

I laughed. It was a classic excuse.

"No… fucking…. Way…" I turned slightly when I heard Bella. I caught her staring at something, or…_somebody._

Edward furrowed his eyebrows, then followed her eyes and froze in his spot.

I didn't move. "Guys…"

"What is she doing here? Everyone in this town hates her…" Edward shook his head. "Well, at least most of us do."

I saw Jessica bugging her again, towards the workout aisle. I frowned.

"Let's just get going," Bella suggested calmly. "I actually have to get one more thing, I'll be back."

I nodded, letting her go.

* * *

**Bella**

Alice wasn't stupid. She knew very well where I was going.

I watched as Tanya walked into the bathroom and I followed after her, deciding now was the perfect time for a bathroom break. As soon as I entered she looked at me. "Hi Bella," she said with a smile.

"Oh. Hi Tanya, it's been awhile," I played along with a sarcastic smile. "What are you up to? I thought you lived in Alaska now."

She laughed. "Oh, man. Don't worry, I'll be out of this shithole town before you can bat your little eyelashes. I'm leaving Monday."

I nodded and laughed with her. "Okay, good. Well so are Edward and I."

She stopped and stared at me. "Edward and you are living together?"

I smiled back at her. "Yes, we are. And I just wanted to let you know that if I find out that you try to talk to him, I won't hesitate to rip your fake ass hair of your head."

I almost said that.

Almost.

"Yep," I said with a smile.

Her face went from alarmed to calm and smiley. "I'm so glad to hear that. It's about time he finally went and got you. I swear if I had to stand one more second of him staring at you as if you were an ex or something, I probably would have just told you myself-not that he wasn't obvious enough."

I tilted my head to the side, suddenly interested and something Tanya had to say for once in my life.

"I mean geesh. He told me how you two used to be really good friends and had a falling out, I always figured you two were fucking or something," she shrugged. "Guess I was right."

I shook my head. "Nope… not fucking. Just in love."

"Whatever that means," she laughed. "Well I have to get going. My dad is here on business this week and I thought I would scrounge the area. Nothing interesting, as always."

She took off and I stared at the door, suddenly confused on if I really hated Tanya or that I knew she couldn't help being the bitch she was so I over-sympathized her. Either way, I had the intention of coming in here to threaten her to stay away from Edward, only her little speech made me hate her a little less and love Edward even more.

I found Edward outside of the bathroom, and handed me a water. "You want to check-out and leave?"

I nodded. "Al and Jazz ready?"

"Jazz is looking at tents," he sighed. "He just opened a pop-up tint and made Alice get in with him."

I shut my eyes. "Oh my god. I'll be in the car."

He nodded. "Good idea."

We waited fifteen minutes after we checked out before Alice and Jasper finally got back. They bought the stupid tent.

I rolled my eyes.

This is what I dealt with...

"Let's see what other stupid shit we can buy tonight," I screamed sarcastically, as they shoved the stupid tent in my backseat.

Ironically we spent the rest of the night in the tent. Which would have been just a superb idea if it weren't so small and hot.

By eleven, Edward and I we're together on his bed; exhausted by the two-year-olds that dragged us around all night. I laid on his arms, my eyes heavy with exhaustion.

I yawned, fighting the sleep that was threatening to overcome me.

"Bella," Edward whispered.

"Yeah?" I mumbled through my hazily sleep.

"I know you're probably passed out right now, and I'll probably have to repeat this to you in the morning. But I wanted to tell you that this means the world to me. This summer has been the best summer of my life and it's all because you let me be with you. I know you're scared that we're going to be terrible at this life thing, but I know it's going to be okay because you're smart and talented and I… have good looks."

I laughed sleepily.

"Bells, every day that I'm with you; you make me want to change and be something-someone better," he said with a chuckle. "And I would have never imagined myself saying something like that to somebody until I realized I was in love with you. And don't say anything back, I just had to get that out."

I smiled against his arm. "I'm glad I'm supportive... And I know what you mean, Edward. I don't know where I would be without you."

He laughed. "Okay. I wanted to sound romantic, but not too cheesy…"

"You about met in the middle there," I said with a nod. "It was a solid speech, I enjoyed it."

He chuckled. "Oh god…"

"I know," I laughed. "I'm sorry. I can't help it."

"Clearly," he rolled his eyes. "You spent three hundred dollars on make up."

I gaped and pinched his arm.

"Owe," he held his arm up to his chest. "Your abuse has gotten out of hand."

"Your face has gotten out of hand," I mumbled, pulling his comforter over my body.

He laughed. "We have a big day tomorrow… goodnight Bella."

"Good night, love," I said with a sweet eye-closed smile.

He laughed and kissed my cheek, turning over to turn the lights off. I wrapped the blanket over him and snuggled up to him. He held me different this time, wrapping both of his hands around me.

It felt safe.

Warm.

Like home.

* * *

**AN: This is basically the final look at Bella and Edward's life in Forks. Bella's not angry at Esme and Carlisle, she's not pissed at her dad, she's fine with leaving to start college in Seattle because she has Edward and she feels like her friends will be okay. **

**The Carlisle/Edward relationship was kind of classic in the sense that I wanted to kind of highlight the fact that Edward is kind of a spoiled rich kid, and Carlisle felt like he had to be a good parent by making Edward leave so he could experience a life outside of their small town. I'm sorry if I offended at the with the whole punching your parents thing, it's just part of the story. Don't know what to tell you.**

**I'm not exactly sure on how many chapters there are left, but I want to say around 7. **

**Now come on guys, review!**


	14. What about the Bun in the Oven?

**AN: I decided I'd post two chapters because I was so late with the last.**

* * *

**What about the bun in the oven?**

**E****dward**

We had to take separate cars, and of course all of my family had to come along. So Jasper and I took my car with Jaeger (who was clearly confused by the car he was in), Bella and Rose took Bella's car, Carlisle and Esme took theirs, and Alice and Emmett rode together in his car.

It was a long trip and I knew the movers we're aggravated by our slow family.

"HEY!" I heard Esme scream. "Be careful with that!"

We didn't have much of a choice with movers, so Esme was aggravated as well.

Bella seemed to be in a good mood, which was a nice change since her blow-up this morning. Emmett and Bells almost got into a serious fight over washing dishes, which was the stupidest fucking argument I've ever seen her participate in.

I told her to calm the fuck down and told Emmett to take a Midol. Emmett just marched off, leaving her to glare at me.

I shrugged. After that Rose and Bella spent the rest of the morning waiting around for the movers to finish at her house. I don't know what the fuck happened with Rose but they we're getting along now and just best fucking friends.

The drive was too long, and I found myself being the one with the worst attitude of all of us. Jasper tried to get me to calm down and smoke with him but I wouldn't. Instead I kept quiet and drove.

**Bella**

It was hard saying goodbye to my dad. I could tell that he had gotten no sleep the night before, probably up all night stressing out.

We were stressful people.

After a long crying hug and a kiss on the cheek, my dad finally told me to "get the fuck out of my house." It was mean and sweet. As he always was.

Rose was being a dork all morning.

I don't know why, she's just so fucking happy.

I drove, keeping a few yards away from Edward's car. He was being a crab-ass all morning-which probably had something to do with my outburst with Emmett. I don't think Edward realized that I would never be seriously mad at Emmett. Even Em knew that.

We focused on finding a gas station after an hour and a half of driving.

"Bella, I can trust you right?" she asked.

I made a face. "Rose, you've known me for… what, 17 years?"

"I know, but I've never told you anything I felt I couldn't tell anyone else," she said casually.

I snorted a laugh. "Thanks about that, by the way."

She sighed. "Well, I told you when I lost my virginity, but eventually told Alice too. And then I told you when I was going to ask Emmett to move out."

"What's going on Rose?"

"I think I'm having a… crises, in a way…." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Not the visible kind, but an internal crises."

I thought for a moment. "What the fuck are you having a crises over?"

"Well the other night I was just sitting there and I was eating ice cream," she started to talk faster. "And I don't really eat ice cream, you know that right? So Emmett was at work, and I just kept thinking why is this ice cream so fucking good to me? And I just kept eating it, like it's nobodies fucking business."

"Right… okay, go on."

I had no clue what the hell she was getting at.

"So anyway I thought that maybe I was about to start my period, and I checked my phone-you know that app that tells you when your next period is-and it told me that I was almost two weeks late."

"Two weeks?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. "That's a long time."

"So I just found out last night that I'm pregnant."

My foot somehow found its way to the brakes. "WHAT!" I screamed.

"Bella, gas pedal! Gas pedal!"

I looked behind me and quickly moved my foot back to the gas pedal. I heard my phone ringing seconds later, and I ignored it. "YOU'RE PREGANT!" I couldn't stop screaming.

I felt like I was crying.

"Bella, calm down!" Rose screamed, slapping her knees. "Will you please stop freaking out, you're making me freak out!"

"I'M NOT FREAKING OUT!" I screamed back at her, trying to look at her and drive at the same time.

"You just stopped the car in the middle of the fucking freeway Bella!" she's yelled, throwing her hands around.

My phone won't stop ringing.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I said, starting to regain a normal volume. I started to cry. "Oh my god, Rose."

"I know," it's all she said.

I stayed quiet and thought about it. Of course she'd get knocked up before I leave.

"Did you tell Em?"

She shook her head. "You're the first to know…"

"Why me?" I blurted out.

"Because you're the only one I felt wouldn't freak out, or get a serious headache, or be mad, or squeeze me to death. But lucky me, you only did one of those things," she went on. "I mean I feel like… you're the mature one. And maybe you'd be able to… give me some words of wisdom or some shit."

I laid against my seat and smiled over to her. "Rose, you don't have anything to be afraid of. It's not like you're a teenager; you have a house, you're getting married. And Emmett… I can't tell you that he won't squeeze you to death, but I know he's going to be ecstatic."

"That's just it though… I don't think he will be. I think he's going to get scared, and after all of these years together he's going to say 'this is where I draw the line, we're threw'."

"Rose, seriously? There are no limitations with you guys, and I know for a fact that Emmett wants a family with you. Even if you guys haven't talked about it-"

"We haven't-"

"Even if you haven't, none of that is going to matter. He loves you and he's going to be by your side no matter what," I finished.

She stayed quiet.

"Esme will probably be as excited as Emmett is, and Alice won't die from you telling her. You're being afraid of nothing, Rose."

I watched her nod.

"You're going to have a kid, Rose! Cheer up."

I heard her laugh. "Yeah… I'm going to have a kid. Holy shit. I'm going to come home from watching kids, only to come home and take care of another."

I shrugged. "You love them though. You always have…. I wouldn't pick that route, but you've never been like me. You've always been a family girl, you're going to be good at it."

I saw her smile from the corner of my eye. "Thanks, Bells."

"Will you take pictures of your belly for me? Everyday…"

"I can't take pictures everyday, Bells."

I frowned. "Twice a week?"

"No."

"Once a week?"

She laughed. "Okay fine. Fridays at noon."

I smiled. "Okay good."

**Alice**

I kept clinking my tongue in my mouth. I was bored and Emmett was driving me crazy with his stupid rap song.

He's popping his shoulders up and down and smoking a cigarette.

He looked stupid.

I sang with him anyway.

This about the sums up the relationship with my brother. Stupid songs. To think he actually held down a real job was amazing to me. If any of his employers saw him outside of work, showing off his tattoos and being a total fucking Hoosier, they would fire him in an instant.

Now he's singing Booty Me Down, sticking his head out the window while he smokes.

Yeah.

He's a fucking Hoosier.

If mom and dad see him they'll go nuts.

He played other rap songs too, I just had no clue what they said.

He turned and down and looked at me. "So Al."

"So Em."

"What is going on with you and Jasper?" he asked, rolling window up.

I can tell this is going to be a long ass trip.

**Jasper**

I know Rose is knocked up.

It all kind of clicked when she had her outburst on Bella the other night. Not the actual moment of her going off on Bella, bet when I shoved a burrito in her face and she turned around to throw up. Then when she turned around to apologized, she blew chunks again.

That, and her tits are huge.

I'm a guy, I couldn't help it.

Anyway, it really clicked even better when Bella's _ass_ picked up my phone call and I heard the conversation between her and Rose. Naturally, I'm an asshole so I put it on speaker so Edward could hear it.

"Wow, Rose is knocked up," Edward shook his head as he threw his cigarette out the window. "Emmett's going to freak."

"You think he'd be mad?"

"Would you?" Edward asked. "If you knew who the love of your life was."

I shrugged. "Love is for the weak."

He rolled his eyes.

"Just saying," I shrugged again.

This is what I know; shrugging makes people shut up.

Apparently not Edward.

"I think if you really thought that, you wouldn't be up my sister's ass all of the time."

I glared at him. "Oh I love Alice. I'm not 'in love' with her."

He laughed. "Get over yourself for ten seconds, Jazz. You've been in love with her since the moment you saw her, just like I was with Bella. You've protected her, in every fucked up detail of your life, you've always loved her."

"What does that mean? 'Fucked up detail'?" I ask with as much aggression.

"In every decision you've made, in every bad situation you've been put in, and no matter what she's done to piss you off; you've never been mad enough to pull yourself away from her like you have to the rest of us. When you're going through your little periods of being a manic depressive, the only person you respond to is her. Trust me, I don't really want you two to get together. But I also know it's unavoidable past a certain point."

I ignored him, staring at the blurred trees as we passed along the highway.

"You can't be 'friend-zoned' by someone you've known your entire life. That attached feeling you get never goes away, because it's like she's your family and you need her there all of the time. That's how I was with Bella, I wasn't just lusting after her. I needed her, _needed her,"_ he shook his head. "Anyway this love shit is getting kind of gay, I said what I needed to say."

I chuckled and stopped when I realized he'd gotten the clue that I was listening to him. He let it go, and chugged his mountain dew as he drove.

Edward always has to simplify things as if he's saying 'this is life, and all of its many glories'. He sounds like a douche most of the time, but I didn't tease him about it. Guy had a huge fragile heart.

Then again, he did fuck Tanya and push her aside when he realized he was in love with my sister. Of course Bella is a psycho too for forgiving him, so I felt fine when

We're all a little fucked up.

**Bella**

The 'apartment' Esme had negotiated for us to get was nothing at all like an apartment. It was a small house. A townhome.

It was huge, the stairs wrapped up to the next level that led to our room. The main floor was spacious, had a living room that was the size of Jasper and my room put together. There was a large mirror that you could overlook the top of the stairs to the top floor, which was bizarre. I had brief fantasy of what Edward and I could go with the railing over those stairs and the mirror, but I pushed it aside as I moved into the kitchen.

Everything was stainless steel except for the espresso colored cabinets with silver handles. I'd never seen such a nice kitchen outside of Esme's own, and I was surprised to see it was so modern and new looking.

I figured that Esme had something to do with this, but she wasn't going to speak up if she did.

When we walked upstairs, our room was what just as shocking. The room had two walk-in closets on either side, it was painted a light grey. The lighting was round 'cup' fixtures in the ceiling, and it adjusted to whichever level of lighting we want.

We set Jaeger free, and he went nuts. He ran around the house, smelling everything.

The movers took care of everything quickly, dispersing our things evenly among each room. They weren't too detailed when they set things, knowing that Esme or Alice were probably just going to move it somewhere else.

I felt awkward about someone touching my underwear, so I told them I would put my own shit up. It's the least I could do.

They had everything up by four, and decided it was time to leave quickly after. I hugged everyone, and paused to hug Rose longer. "Tell him soon," I said lowly.

She nodded. Jasper was the last person I said goodbye too, and he teased me about the phone call he overheard. He wished me good luck and told me to 'shoot him a text'. Douche.

I told him I'd call him three times a week and that he'd better pick up each time or I'm calling Charlie in with a shot gun.

He didn't laugh.

I didn't care.

Finally everyone left, leaving Edward and I alone in our new space.

It was bizarre.

Edward had to leave to see someone about a job in downtown Seattle, so I had a chance to familiarize myself with the place. Esme had thrown several pictures of us on the wall. Not just of me and Edward; but all of us. There was ones of us on New Years eve; all of us looked messed up and dorky in our fancy outfits and silly hats. Edward and I were holding each other closely. We looking like a couple, despite the fact we were nowhere near it that night. We had gotten into a fight that night, and Edward tried to make up for being a dick by being all huggy and weird.

Maybe that was his awkward way of hitting on me.

I don't know.

I moved on to the bedroom and started to move things around quickly. I felt like I had to rearrange everything in order for me to feel at home.

I moved our bed over to the strip of wall between Edward's closet and mine. I moved the dressed on the other side of the room, across from the bed. After trying to move the night stands on either side, I settled for leaving them both sideways to fit perfectly beside either sides of the bed.

There was one extra room about the size of this one, which we'd decided on as being an office. It was set up to wear we each had to walls.

It all seemed so formal…

I laughed when I realized Esme had put more pictures in here; and I realized she was trying to make me more at home.

There was a box I was unfamiliar with sitting on my desk, and I moved forward cautiously to look in it. I sat down and took the lid off. There was a note on top.

_Dear Bella,_

_Charlie and I were worried about you guys missing home. So we stalked all of your social networking sites, went through all of our pictures, and had new ones printed. This is for you, honey. Remember. Carlisle, I, and your father are all very proud of you and we only want what's best for you. So we're giving you a few pieces of home for you to carry into your new life._

_Love forever,_

_Esme_

I smiled teary eyed when I looked down at the picture of Edward and I when we were little. We we're both dressed in our classic 90s outfits, my hair in high pony tail and his hair perfectly shaped to the side. It was probably around 1998, but I'm not sure either of our parents actually caught up on child fashion trends until 2004.

The next one was of me kissing Alice's cheek with chocolate Ice Cream all over my face. We couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 in the picture. Alice was cringing, trying to push me away from her.

The photos went on, and I continued to look at them for hours until I found one of me and Edward when we we're fifteen. It was around the time that mom died, I thought. It was fall, and we all went to the park to smoke. Esme definitely wasn't there for this photo, I remember Rose taking it.

Edward was looking at me, his face was glowing as he looked at me and his smile pure and sweet.

I heard a door open, and I looked over at Jaeger who was sleeping soundly on his dog bed. I felt hands on my shoulders and I screamed.

I turned and saw Edward trying hard not to smile. "Jesus, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"If it's the least I can do to your heart," he said, leaning over to kiss my cheek. "I should hear from the guy next week."

"That's great," I said, putting the pictures back in the box. "Edward, this place is huge."

"I know," he said, plopping down in the chair across from me and lit a cigarette. I walked across the room and sat in his lap.

I propped my legs against the arm of the chair and laid my head on his shoulder, making myself comfortable. I took a puff from his cigarette and handed it back to him.

"Let's have babies now. 5 of them," I said with a teasing smile.

He laughed. "Jaeger can be our sitter."

We looked over at the sad looking border collie, who looked almost fully grown now. "By the way, did Jasper tell you about Rose? Apparently my butt answered his phone call earlier."

"What about the bun in the oven? Oh yes, I heard every detail."

I laughed. "Eh. I hope he doesn't screw things up."

"Jasper or Emmett? Emmett probably will. And Jasper has a history of not keeping his opinions to himself."

I frowned. "I'm not going to miss that."

We went silent for a moment and I relaxed my head on his shoulder.

I waited and waited. And it was about five minutes later that I realized I was waiting for someone to come barging into the room to interrupt us.

I turned my head towards Edward and stared.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Oh my god."

"Bella, what?" he sat up slightly, and I tangled my fingers in his hair.

"We're completely alone."

* * *

**AN: Well I must warn you about future lemons. **

**Come on and leave a review, people!**


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